Time Heals All
by thesunwillalwaysshine98
Summary: Lily Evans enters sixth year battered and bruised, only to learn that time will heal all wounds - alongside friendship and some marauder mischief. A Jily fic written from James' POV.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or anything else from the Harry Potter universe. I have my Queen JK Rowling to thank for that._

 **Chapter One**

James Potter wasn't sure when the first moment he had realised he was in love with Lily Evans had been. Perhaps it was in second year, when he'd pulled her pigtails and dropped frogspawn down her robes in Potions class. Perhaps it was in fourth year when he tripped over table legs to sit next to her in class or stumbled over his words trying to talk to her. Or perhaps in was in fifth year when her green eyes burned like fire when she was angry with him, or when he saw her trying desperately to bite back a laugh at one of the Marauders most recent pranks.

Whenever it was, he was so in love with her it made him sick.

Lily was just so perfect. She was kind and considerate, always willing to help out a lost first year or defend a cornered second year. She was sharp and witty, always the first to answer a question in Charms class or throw a comeback to one of his indecent proposals. She was brave and selfless, always the first to defend someone who didn't quite fit in, always be-friending those pesky Slytherins that everyone else kept at arm's length. She never let anything dampen her spirit, she was always happy and she was always smiling.

Even at the end of last year, when her so called best friend Severus Snape had called her a mudblood in front of half of their year. She hadn't let anyone think it bothered her, she still studied hard in the library and sunbathed out on the lawn with Mary McDonald, she was still always one of the first to laugh at Sirius' jokes or volunteer to help out with extra Prefect duty.

She hadn't forgiven Snape, not that James thought he deserved forgiveness. It just didn't seem very much like Lily. When it came to anyone but James she was usually the first to jump in at their defence. James had thought she would go to the grave defending Snape and his obsession with the Dark Arts, arguing that he ran with the wrong crowd and that he was just misunderstood.

Perhaps he had just pushed her too far this time.

Whatever it was, it seemed that even Lily Evans' never ending patience had finally wavered, and she wasn't willing to forgive her ex best friend. So she had left at the end of their fifth year, perhaps a little disappointed, but just as happy as she always was.

Only, she didn't look very happy at the moment.

James knew this because one of his favourite hobbies was to watch her. Not in a creepy, follow her through the shadows and watch her while she slept, sort of way. He just found her mannerisms so interesting. He loved the way the light shined in her red hair, and her green eyes sparkled when she laughed. He loved how her brows furrowed together when she was reading a particularly complex book. He loved how she would narrow her eyes and wrinkle her nose in his direction when she caught him staring.

Really, he loved everything about her.

So thanks to his odd - and slightly stalker-like – hobby, he knew something wasn't quite right with Lily Evans. She was sat a few seats down from him and his friends at the Gryffindor table, across from her best friend and fellow Gryffindor, Mary McDonald. Mary was talking animatedly, her arms flailing around, obviously retailing her fellow sixth year girls with a tale from her summer holidays. Lily wasn't looking at her friend; she was looking down at her untouched plate of food, stabbing her mashed potatoes continuously with the tines of her fork and her face was blank and unreadable.

Something was definitely wrong.

Lily Evans did not sit quietly at the start of term feast. She listened to her friend's stories, ginning away as though she wanted nothing more to sit and listen to them talk. She ate with gusto, usually because she was hungry and the food tasted good. Sometimes she would even glance up at the Slytherin table to smile at Severus, or glare down at where James and his friends were sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table.

Not today.

Today Lily Evans looked as though she wanted to be anywhere but sat in the middle of the rowdy Gryffindor table. Her face was chalk white, her green eyes were hard like stones and her plate of food remained untouched.

The universe felt quite unbalooanced somehow.

James wasn't sure he could stand it. He didn't like to see anyone looking so upset, but when it was Lily Evans? Something had to be done.

He turned back to his friends, "Do you think Evans is upset?" he asked them quietly.

Their reaction was immediate and predictable. His best friend Sirius Black was sat across the table from James; he looked up from his food and wrinkled his nose. "Prongs" he said very seriously, "Get a grip."

Remus Lupin was sat to his right and simply rolled his eyes without looking up from his plate, while Peter Pettigrew who was sat beside Sirius threw James a sympathetic look.

This was a usual reaction from his three best friends, together the four of them made up the infamous group The Marauders. They were well known throughout the castle for rule breaking, pranking and general misbehaving. They were all far too used to James' unnatural infatuation with Lily Evans, and had long since grown sick of listening to him talk about her.

"I'm serious" he hissed at his friends, growing angry at their lack of response, "She looks like a corpse that decided to come to the feast for the hell of it."

Sirius snorted, "Nice one, Prongs" he said, grinning. "Be sure to say that to her, I'm sure it'll get you a date."

James glared at his best friend.

"Now that you mention it, she didn't turn up to the Prefect carriage on the train" said Remus thoughtfully, glancing over at the red head with furrowed eyebrows. "Which isn't like Lily."

"Don't you start, Moony" Sirius complained, helping himself to one of the deserts that had just magically appeared on the table. "So what if she's upset?" he shrugged, "If she wanted your help she'd ask for it."

"You're so compassionate, Padfoot" James bit out.

Sirius ran his hand through his black hair, "She wouldn't notice if one of us was upset" he pointed out.

"That's not true" Peter said softly, "She'd be the first to notice."

"Yeah" Remus agreed, snorting. "Wait, Sirius didn't just make an innuendo? Something has to be wrong with the universe."

"Hold on, James Potter isn't trying to ask me out?" Sirius pulled a face of mock horror, "Am I dreaming?"

"How many times has she slept in the hospital wing with you, Moony" James pointed out.

"She always hexes the Seventh year Slytherins when she catches them bullying me" Peter agreed.

"Alright, so Evans is a lot nicer than me" Sirius pulled a face, "What's your point?"

"My point, Padfoot" James said, his teeth gritting together, "Is there is a damsel in distress over there and you're passing up the opportunity to help her out."

"How very un-gentlemanly of you" Remus put in.

"I'm quite ashamed" Peter agreed.

Sirius rolled his eyes and sighed in a put upon sort of way, "So what exactly do you suggest we do, Prongs?" he asked, "Because in case you hadn't noticed, we're not exactly high on Evans' list of favourite people."

"Wrong again, Padfoot!" James grinned, "I am not high on that list, the rest of you however are very liked by Lily Evans."

"So remind me again why you're doing this?"

"Because she is going to be my wife one day" James said simply, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I will not have my bride to be upset."

"Right then" Sirius said, standing up as though the matter was settled. "As best man I can't see this wedding fall into shambles."

He turned on his heel, leapt over the bench and marched towards where Mary and Lily were sitting. Luckily the headmaster had just finished reading the start of term notices and was about to dismiss the hall, though his blue eyes twinkled as his surveyed Sirius he chose not to comment but rather sent all of the students to bed.

With that James, Remus and Peter leapt up to run and catch up with Sirius, who had already made himself quite at home sitting beside Mary.

James rolled his eyes but stopped just short of where they were sitting, smiling at both of the girls in greeting.

He felt slightly wrong footed when neither of them even bothered to look up at him, so he decided to try for a pleasant conversation. "Hello ladies" he said, grinning in a way he thought was quite charming, "How were your holidays?"

"James" Mary said in a rigid tone, she almost sounded like she was warning him. "Now really isn't a good time."

He frowned; it wasn't like Mary to be so hostile when she greeted him. In fact, he and Mary were usually on very good terms, it was her best friend who couldn't stand him. He glanced down at Lily to see she wasn't looking at him, her jaw was set and she was glaring in the other direction, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

He glanced at Sirius to find he was also looking at Lily curiously.

Yes, something was wrong if even Sirius had noticed.

Something had to be done.

He subtly elbowed Remus who seemed to be waiting for a signal before opening his mouth and saying, "I was wondering if you could help me out with the first years, Mary?" smiling at her in that Remus Lupin way that said nothing was amiss. James was envious that Remus could always manage to look so innocent without even trying. He and Sirius never managed it. "It's just that Lily is looking a little under the weather" Remus continued, "and it would be good to have a helping hand."

"Well-" Mary hesitated, glancing at Lily as though her friend could provide some guidance.

Lily still wasn't looking at them however and she was feigning deafness. Perhaps she was hoping if she pretended none of them were there they would eventually get bored and leave her alone.

No such luck.

So Peter stepped in, "Knew we could count on you, Mary!" he said enthusiastically, grabbing her under the arms and yanking her off her chair, "You're always there to help a friend in need."

With that he and Remus practically frog marched her out of the hall.

So James and Sirius were left alone with Lily Evans.

James nodded at his friend as an indication that he should continue. Whenever James spoke to Lily the conversation usually ended up in shouting, and he didn't think that would provide the best results right now.

"Can we walk you to your dorm, Evans?" Sirius asked in his most polite voice, his black eyes wide and his hair perfectly tousled. Sirius Black might be James' best friend, but that didn't mean he couldn't hate the bastard sometimes. He was just too damn handsome for his own good. "A pretty girl like you shouldn't be walking the corridors alone, you know."

A smile twisted on Lily's lips and she turned to look at Sirius for the first time, her green eyes oddly blank, "You going to kidnap me too, Snuffles?" she asked.

James snorted.

Lily and Sirius had an odd sort of friendship that had more often than not made James envious. On the surface and when in the presence of strangers the two pretended they completely hated each other. Sirius pretended he thought she was a straight laced know it all who couldn't bend a rule if her life depended on it, and Lily pretended she thought he was a reckless and stupid rule breaker who didn't have a sensible thought in his head.

In reality, Sirius cared about Lily down to his bones and would do anything to protect her, and Lily loved Sirius like he was her own brother and would always look after him no matter what stupid scheme he'd gotten himself in to.

The truth usually came out when they had been drinking, and that was when Lily had first called Sirius by her absurd nickname for him, 'Snuffles.' It had been at a Quidditch after party that the two had drank too much Firewhiskey and snuck off together. James wasn't sure entirely what had happened between them, just that Sirius had been regaling her with tales of his womanising past, she'd accused him of being a dog and he'd proved to her how right she was.

Sirius' animagus form was a huge, black, shaggy dog.

Lily still confessed he was the cutest thing on four paws, and from that day on she had started calling him Snuffles. Sirius said he hated it, they all knew he loved it.

Their relationship was dynamic, confusing to everyone on the outside and downright painful for James to watch. But Sirius made Lily laugh, and for now that was good enough for him.

"Just want to take you to your door" Sirius said, standing up and offering her his hand. "Like any good gentleman would."

Lily snorted and reached out to take his hand, allowing him to help her up, "You're no gentleman, Black" she told him.

"Well I wouldn't say no to a goodnight kiss" Sirius grinned, looping his arm around her and pulling her out of the hall. "But that's why we have a chaperone."

For the first time that evening Lily looked up at James. Her usual rosy cheeks were so pale she looked like a ghost, and he could barely make out the freckles that dusted her nose. Dark circles ghosted the skin under her eyes and while she was smiling at Sirius' antics it didn't reach her eyes, which were so sad he had to resist the temptation to reach out and hold her.

"Hello, Evans" he said, grinning down at her. "You're looking as lovely as ever this evening."

"Hello, Potter" she said woodenly, "You're as annoyingly observational as ever this evening."

"I try" he smiled, nodding his head in her direction.

Sirius pulled her through a concealed tapestry on the second floor that no one really knew about, and was therefore free of bustling students making their way to their respective common rooms, "So Ginge" he said conversationally, still holding firmly on to her arm as though he was afraid she'd take off the minute he let go, "You gonna tell us what's taken the pink out of your cheeks?"

Lily shrugged, "I'm just feeling a little under the weather" she told them, "No big deal."

"You see I would buy that" Sirius agreed, nodding away, "If you were anyone but Lily Evans."

"I agree Padfoot" James put in, hurrying to keep up with the two. "I remember a fifth year Lily Evans with the flu, spending two days with smoke continuously pouring out of her ears from five times a day doses of Pepper Up Potion just so she wouldn't have to miss classes."

"Indeed Prongs" Sirius agreed, nodding and looking pointedly at Lily. "Or second year Lily who had Mumblemumps and tried to sneak out of the Hospital Wing no less than fifteen times."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Can't you lot ever just mind your own business?" she asked.

They had reached a secret corridor to the right of the Fat Lady's Portrait, and so Sirius pulled on Lily's arm until she turned to look at him.

"When Lily Evans doesn't use her Prefect power to put us in detention-"

"Or doesn't eat anything at the start of term feast" James put in.

"Then we consider it our business to find out what is wrong" Sirius finished.

Lily sighed, obviously having an inward debate over the possibility of them leaving her alone without her first telling them what was wrong. She glared at both of them, her eyes hard as shiny emeralds and her lips set into a hard line, "My parents were killed last month" she said simply, "Some things are more important than prefect duty and food."

With that she turned on her heel and left the two of them dumbfounded in her wake.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I own nothing but love for all of these characters._

 **Chapter 2**

Things didn't improve as the week went on.

James didn't like to think of himself as a stalker, or as unnaturally obsessed with Lily Evans, but when she was upset he couldn't help but want to comfort her.

Since the first night back to Hogwarts, when she had told him and Sirius about the death of her parents, she had avoided the pair of them as though just being around them would cause her pain.

Which was impressive as all sixth year Gryffindors had classes together, and James had five classes in total with Lily. She always sat right at the front so he couldn't speak to her and wouldn't be able to see her face, and practically catapulted out of the door at the end of every lesson so he had no hope of catching up with her.

Outside of lessons he rarely saw her. She never turned up to the Great Hall for meals anymore, she usually chose the solitary of her dormitory over the rowdiness of the common room and whenever she wasn't there or in class she was hiding among the dusty bookshelves in the library.

By the Saturday morning of the first week of term James had only clapped eyes on Lily outside of class three times and he hadn't spoken to her once.

He'd tried to corner her best friend and dorm mate Mary McDonald at the end of Charms on Friday, but Mary had simply told him that Lily had said as little to her as she had to him, and she usually had the curtains of her four poster bed drawn by the time Mary made it to the dormitory.

It was safe to say that James was frustrated.

Sirius had told him to leave it alone, that Lily would talk when she was ready. Sirius understood to some extent what she was going through, having been disowned by his family the summer before last. James understood it was difficult to talk about family matters, but he hated to see her in such pain.

He wasn't asking her to talk about family, just to talk. To anyone. About anything.

It was in that frustrated state he was found in Transfiguration on a rainy day in the second week of September.

Lily still hadn't so much as looked at him since the start of term feast and this was only the second time he'd seen her that week. He was sat at the back of their Thursday afternoon Transfiguration lesson, and as per usual he hadn't taken his eyes off Lily for the entire hour though he had somehow managed to progress further than she had in this lesson.

They'd begun vanishing mammals last week and he had already progressed onto vanishing a kitten, which he had successfully done ten minutes ago. Lily however, still hadn't managed to vanish her mouse from last week and was sitting at the front of the class with an expression that was close to tears.

James had already packed away and was determined to catch her at the end of class. So he was surprised when Professor McGonagall dismissed the class but said, "Miss Evans could you stay a moment please" before glancing at him over the heads of the retreating students, "You'd better stay too, Potter" she added.

James eyebrows knitted together in confusion but he nodded to Sirius as an indication that he would catch up with him and made his way to the front. Lily hadn't left her seat and was staring resolutely down at the desktop.

"What's this about, Professor?" he asked, taking a seat beside Lily.

"I'll get to you, Potter" she said dismissively, "I want to speak to Miss Evans first."

Lily looked up slowly, "Professor, if this is about prefect duty-"

"Let me stop you there, Miss Evans" Professor McGonagall said, dropping a sheath of parchment onto the desk in front of Lily and crossing her arms over the chest. "It's about this."

James didn't know what the parchment was, but the big D written at the top in red ink cleared a few things up for him. At a guess he would say it was Lily's essay on non-verbal spells and the fact that she had received a Dreadful gave James an idea that she was not coping well. James doubted that Lily had received anything lower than an Exceeds Expectations in her entire academic career.

"This will not do, Miss Evans" Professor McGonagall continued, "We are fast progressing into N.E.W.T year and if you want to get higher than a P you really need to work harder."

"I'm trying my best, Professor-" Lily started.

"I understand that you're having a very difficult time right now" Professor McGonagall continued, "I wish to support you in every way I can but I simply cannot have N.E.W.T level students in my class who can't vanish a mouse by the fourth lesson."

"I promise I'll work harder, Professor."

"I know that, Miss Evans" Professor McGonagall said softly, "I also know that there's no shame in asking for help."

Lily glanced at James before looking up at her Transfiguration teacher.

"That's why I asked you to be here, Potter" the Professor continued, "Of course Miss Evans is very accomplished at Transfiguration under normal circumstances however, during this time of stress it might be helpful for her to have someone to take a little of the strain."

"I'm not sure I'm following, Professor?" James raised an eyebrow.

"I want you to help Miss Evans" Professor McGonagall said, "Not as a tutor exactly but as a friend, someone she can turn to if she's ever struggling."

James paused for a moment before glancing at Lily, "Of course I can do that, Professor" James smiled, "If that's okay with Lily."

"I don't want to cause any trouble" Lily mumbled into the desk.

"It's no trouble!" the words were out of James' mouth before he could stop himself.

"Might I also remind you, Miss Evans, that an Exceeds Expectations is required in this class if you wish to pursue your career in Magical Law Enforcement" Professor McGonagall was suddenly stern, "If you continue on this path I'm afraid you'll receive a Poor at best."

Lily sighed, "Well if Potter really doesn't mind."

"Of course not!" he said brightly, picking up her bag and helping her out of her seat. "I can always use it as leverage when I need help with my Potions homework."

"When is the great James Potter ever likely to need help with Potions?" she mocked as they left the Transfiguration classroom together.

"Well you do need a lot of imagination when it comes to Potions" James said as they moved down the corridor together, "Something I rather lack."

She looked at him strangely as she reached for her book bag but chose not to comment.

"So" he said, grinning down at her as though Christmas had come early. He thought he might have to rein in the enthusiasm for fear of scaring her away, but she didn't seem to mind. "Shall we start on this Transfiguration now?" he asked.

"Don't you want to go to dinner?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Well I didn't think you would" James said, "And I didn't want to give you an opportunity to get out of our deal, I need all the help I can get at Potions."

Lily's lips curved upwards into a small smile, "Alright you win, Potter" she said, "Library?"

James wrinkled his nose, "All those dusty books?" he mocked, taking hold of her hand and pulling her along in his wake. "Not the best place for studying."

"So where is?" she asked, he could hear the laughter in her voice.

"You just follow me, Evans" he turned to grin at her, his warm hard still holding onto her tiny one.

Then he took off into a run, and holding onto her hand pulled her along in his wake. He could hear her gasping for breath and trying desperately not to laugh.

They stopped when they reaching the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"The Common Room, Potter?" Lily gasped as he pulled her through the Portrait Hole and across the empty Common Room. It seemed everyone was still at dinner, which was good for him as he pulled her to the bottom steps of the boy's dormitories.

"No way."

"Come on, Lil" he said, turning around to grin at her and holding out both of his hands, "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"What does me going into your dormitory have to do with you helping me with Transfiguration?" she demanded, her hands on her hips and her green eyes shining.

She was starting to look more like her old self and it made him want to skip around the empty Common Room.

"Well, nothing" he said, shrugging, "But it is a great place to escape to, no one would dare to think you're in _James Potter's_ dormitory after all."

She glanced up the stairs before looking back at his face, then her resolve seemed to snap and she grabbed hold of both of his hands and let him drag her up the stairs. She seemed reluctant but he knew it wasn't the first time she'd been into his dormitory. She and Remus seemed to have monthly meetings during which they hid behind the curtains of his four poster bed, drank hot chocolate and bared their souls to each other. He also knew that she'd snuck up here with Sirius to find his Firewhiskey stash more often than not, but he didn't like to think about that.

Perhaps she was nervous because she had never been into the dormitory with him. In fact the two of them had never been alone together before.

Suddenly he was a little nervous too.

He pulled her through the door of the sixth year boy's dormitory and towards his bed, hoping she would ignore the mess. The floor was mostly sprawled with old clothes, used sweet wrappers and forgotten library books. Lily didn't seem to mind, but she was obviously more than used to it. She perched herself on the end of his bed awkwardly and twiddled her fingers in her lap.

She might be used to the dormitory, but she wasn't used to him.

Yet.

He wanted to make her feel at ease so he crawled onto the centre of the bed, "Make yourself at home, Evans" he grinned, reaching over to draw the curtains around them.

She scooted to the middle of the bed and sat with her legs crossed, watching him interestedly as he pulled out his copy of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration, a sheath of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink.

He grinned at her as he placed the quill between his teeth and unscrewed the bottle of ink, "So" he said slowly, taking the quill from between his teeth and dipping it in the ink pot, "Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration-"

He was cut off by a blow to the side of the head as Lily wacked him with a pillow and almost unturned the bottle of ink, "I'm not that thick, you prat!"

"Well how was I meant to know?" he teased, taking the pillow from her and throwing it behind his head, "I'm you're tutor, you can't be awfully bright."

She giggled at this and he marvelled at the beautiful innocence of the sound. Her green eyes were brighter than they had been for days and there was a little pink in her cheeks. Maybe he could finally break through her defences and get her to open up a little.

"You know Lily you can talk to me, tell me what's been going on with you" he said softly.

She clammed up almost immediately, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "I'd rather study" she mumbled, her eyes cast down at the bed.

Then again, maybe not. He felt like it was one step forward and three steps back when it came to Lily. Maybe he should stop pretending he knew better and just take Sirius' advice. If he gave her some space to breathe maybe she'd talk when she was ready.

"Well studying isn't really my thing" he backpedalled, "But we can give it a go."

He reached for the Transfiguration text book and flicked to the page concerning vanishing. "So, this vanishing business isn't all that hard, just takes a great deal of concentration" he said, passing her the textbook and picking up the parchment. "My guess is you're having more trouble with the latter, as you've always been pretty stellar at Transfiguration."

"I've always had to concentrate really hard on Transfiguration" she admitted quietly, glancing up at him from under her eyelashes. "I can write a Charms essay without really thinking about it."

"Well you're lucky to have me at your disposal then" he grinned, leaning across her to point at a line in the textbook, "We'll start here."

She smiled slightly and didn't flinch when he leaned across her, explaining the complicated wand movement required for the vanishing charm. She didn't interrupt him or scorn at the way he spoke to her, she simply listened with rapt attention and big green eyes.

He had to concentrate on not letting himself be distracted by those big, soft eyes or the fact the Lily Evans' warm body was just inches from his, sitting on his bed. How many times had he fantasised about this phenomenon?

He tried not to think about that either.

After fifteen minutes of the session her shoulders had relaxed and she let out a breath he hadn't realised she had been holding. He hadn't noticed how tense she'd been, but he was glad she was slowly becoming more comfortable around him.

After a half hour she had successfully managed to vanish a hamster that James had stolen from Professor McGonagall's store room. She was so happy she squealed in delight and threw her arms around James shoulders in an apparently unconscious action. "Thank you so much, James!" she gushed, "I've never been able to vanish so much as a beetle leg before."

James wanted to laugh and congratulate her, but he was too busy reeling over her use of his given name. She had never called him James before, as far as he could remember. A warm feeling rose through his stomach and rested on his chest.

"I'm James now, am I?" he teased softly, breathing into her red hair.

She moved back slowly and looked into his eyes, "Only when you're being nice, Potter" she grinned.

"Listen, Lily-" he started, wanting to tell her that she could talk to him whenever she wanted about whatever she wanted. He just wanted her to know that he was there for her, whenever she needed him to be.

He was interrupted however by the sound of the dormitory door being forced open, and he rolled his eyes as Sirius pulled the curtains of his bed apart and stuck his head into their sanctuary. "Well well" he said, sounding triumphant. "What do we have here?"

"A cosy little get together?" Remus' head popped up behind Sirius' as the latter clambered onto the bed and made himself comfortable, Remus followed suit squishing them all up together so that Sirius was forced to drag Lily up against the headboard. He slung an arm over her shoulder as though it was the most causal thing in the world and James felt a spike of envy surge through him when he saw her lean against Sirius' chest.

He was momentarily distracted by Remus calling, "Get in here, Wormtail!"

Peter was sat on the edge of the bed next to them, clearing debating whether or not he would be welcome to squeeze in with them. James reached out to grab hold of his wrist and yanked him into the confined space, with that Remus pulled the curtains back around them and they were in semi-darkness once more.

"Well, isn't this cosy" Sirius smiled happily, pulling Lily closer against him.

"I brought refreshments" Remus confessed, pulling several pasties and cakes out of his bag. "I noticed both of you skipped dinner."

"Not that we ever dreamed we'd find the two of you together" Sirius put in, reaching for a pasty and forcing it into Lily's hand. She glared at him but took a nibble from the pastry, which James considered to be progress.

"See Evans, told you it was a master stroke coming up here" he winked at her, grabbing a pastry for himself and shoving half into his mouth. "We _wanted_ some peace and quiet" James said, glowing at Sirius who was watching Lily slowly take another bite of her food.

"No such luck there, mate" Sirius said, not even bothering to try and sound apologetic. "Wormtail needs help with his Herbology homework and I spent all afternoon reading his Charms essay."

"Not to mention I have prefect duty later and I've been babysitting Padfoot all day" Remus put in.

"I can cover your rounds, Remus" a soft voice piped up.

They all looked up to watch Lily voluntarily reaching for a cake. Of course this was typical Lily Evans behaviour, even when in a moment of personal crisis she was willing to lend a helping hand to a friend. Well, not this time, James was determined that she be the one to receive the helping hand this time.

"Nah don't worry, Evans" James said casually, "He's been partnered with Emeline Vance, isn't that right Moony?"

Sirius grinned as the tips of Remus' ears turned pink, "Any excuse to be alone with Emeline" he teased.

"Shove off" Remus muttered.

"You never said you had a crush on Emeline Vance!" Lily sounded scandalised as she licked the icing off the top of her cake.

Remus mumbled something about 'not having any chance' before burying his now very red face into the Transfiguration text book.

James expected Sirius to come back with some derivative comment that would no doubt dissolve into further disagreement, before Lily told Sirius he was a berk and Remus that he just hadn't found the right girl yet. What did happen next however, James did not expect. Lily snorted, "Please Remus, you're one of the most fanciable boys in this school."

What happened next was instantaneous and probably completely expected. Remus dropped his book on the bed and looked at Lily as though she'd grown a second head, Sirius' arm snapped back from around her so fast you'd have thought he'd been bitten and James whipped around to look at her so fast he topped off the edge of the bed and out of sight.

"Ginge!" he heard Sirius admonish her as he stood up and climbed back under the curtain, "It is well known that I am the most fanciable boy in this school."

"In this bed maybe" Peter muttered, earning him a glare from everyone else.

Lily simply laughed, "Please Snuffles, no girl wants a boyfriend with hair shinier than hers."

James and Remus both laughed at this.

"Most girls aren't with me for my hair" Sirius leered.

Lily rolled her eyes. She was one of the only girls in the school for which Sirius' charms seemed to have no effect. Something James was thankful for every single day.

"You're not gonna break my heart are you, Evans?" James tried his best to sound as though he was joking but his heart was just a little too close to his throat. "You don't really think Remus is more fanciable than me?"

"You lot don't think I'm massaging any of your egos by telling you how fanciable you are, do you?" she sounded doubtful.

"Come on, Lil" Remus rolled his eyes, "I look like a corpse one week of every month."

"Remus Lupin, you are one of the sweetest, most kind and compassionate people I have ever met" she sounded almost angry as she addressed him, "You have a big heart, gorgeous golden eyes and to be honest I've always wanted to know what you look like without a shirt" she teased, "Any girl would be lucky to have you."

Time seemed to stop for a moment as Remus flushed red and James heart stopped in his chest.

Then Sirius broke the tension, "Yeah, but I'm still the fit one, right?" he clarified.

They all burst into a fit of laughter that lasted until they were breathless and their stomachs ached.

Lily sighed, she was lying on the bed and her red hair fanned around her head, "I feel sort of normal when I'm with you four" she admitted quietly.

Sirius wrinkled his nose in mock disgust, "Well we'll have to do something about that, Ginge" he mocked, still slightly breathless from laughing. "No one wants to be normal."


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I own nothing here._

 **Chapter 3**

Slowly, as time moved forward, so did change, and while he didn't have the old Lily Evans back he thought he saw glimpses of her sometimes.

She stopped avoiding the Great Hall at mealtimes, mostly because Sirius had taken it upon himself to follow her around with food demanding that she eat, because really it would be a tragedy to lose those fabulous curves. James had wanted to punch him, but it had worked. She didn't eat a lot, but she did join them at meal times. Sirius always sat beside her and she always laughed at his jokes. James found he didn't mind so much, with Sirius sat beside her he himself had an excuse to sit across from her and watch her laugh.

She didn't avoid him so much anymore either. He couldn't say she exactly sought out his company but she did smile at him when he passed her in the corridor and joined him in the common room when he was doing Transfiguration homework. Lily didn't talk much, and James found himself too tongue tied to speak, so often they worked in silence.

He didn't mind, he just liked being near her.

The best improvement however, occurred in Potions class. Under normal circumstances James loathed the lesson; he only chose to take it because he needed it to be an Auror. He hated the subject and everything about it, not just because he was rubbish at it.

That was until Lily Evans had taken the seat beside him in their first Potions class together after he had begun tutoring her in Transfiguration. She had smiled at him and said, "You want to be my partner?"

He was so shocked his answer had come out as a stammered, "Y-Yes."

At the beginning of the year Lily had chosen to partner Remus, usually she sat with Severus Snape but after everything that had occurred between them in fifth year he obviously was no longer an option. So as Peter hadn't qualified to take N.E.W.T. level Potions that left James to partner Sirius. Obviously the two boys hadn't complained about the swap, and when he'd turned to look at them sat behind him they'd both grinned and flashed him a thumbs up.

He could have kissed them.

Two whole hours a week alone with Lily Evans, sitting close enough to smell her hair.

That was the reason he found himself sitting in the dungeon classroom ten minutes before the lesson even started. Professor Slughorn hadn't even arrived yet and he was inwardly glad he hadn't told his friends where he was going. They were going to mock him for a month for this.

He might have cared, but then Lily Evans walked through the door and anything his friends put him through was worth it.

"You're early" she smiled, dumping her bag on the desktop and pulling up a stool beside him.

"Well, Potions is fast becoming one of my favourite classes."

Lily just laughed as she pulled out her textbooks, "Well you have a good teacher" she told him.

"Listen Lil" he paused as she looked up at him, green eyes all wide. "I'm really here because I wanted to talk to you."

Those green eyes tightened defensively, "What about?"

"Well, I have this theory" he started, and while she stared at him she didn't interrupt so he took that as an indication he should continue. "That we would make really good friends."

"Friends?" she clarified, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you do like Remus and Sirius, don't you?" he pointed out. "They like you too, and they like me, and I like them, and I like you. So really Evans, it's a mathematical impossibility for you not to like me."

Lily snorted, "I never said I didn't like you, Potter" she pointed out.

"I believe the words, arrogant, bullying and toe-rag have been used to describe me many a time" he pointed out.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Well, I believe said arrogant, bullying toe-rag spilled frogspawn down my robes, called me frigid and turned my eyebrows blue for a week."

"You say that like it's a bad thing..." he muttered.

Lily laughed out loud and he let the sound wash over him like warm water. There really was nothing better than Lily Evans when she laughed, if it was up to him she would do it all the time.

"Come on Potter, you never made it easy on me" she pointed out, "I know you were having a laugh, and Snuffles pointed out on more than one occasion I needed to lighten up, but that stuff with Sev wasn't cool."

"Remus might have told me I tend to make a prat of myself around you."

"Smart boy."

"Look Lily, about what happened during O. -"

Lily held her hand up in front of him, "Let me stop you there" she said, "If anyone should apologise it should be me, I never meant to say all those things." She shook her head and looked towards the front of the classroom, "You just got me so wound up, Potter. The way you strutted around, asking me out and the way you treated Sev, it just didn't sit right with me."

"If I promise to leave him alone, could we try to be friends?"

Lily laughed and looked at him, her eyes hard as stones, "That's not likely to matter to me now, is it?"

"I want you to know I can be a good person, Lily."

She let out a long sigh, "Look Potter, I do like you" she told him, "Which is why I find it so difficult to be around you, do you think I enjoy turning you down all the time?"

James had to grin, "You get pretty creative in your answers."

"Then I have to see you looking like a kicked puppy" Lily shook her head and looked away from him, "With everything else, I can't deal with hurting you too."

James felt a pinch above his heart, after all this time he'd thought she hated him when really she cared enough to not want to hurt him. Just the thought had him doing cartwheels inside.

"I'm just asking to be friends, Lily" he tried again, "I won't ask you out again."

Lily looked at him with those shiny green eyes and pouty pink lips and he felt a little bad for lying. Only a little. "Okay, Potter" she agreed. "I'll be just friends with you."

James felt as though a balloon had exploded in his sternum and he grinned at her with such enthusiasm he was afraid he might scare her. Her answering smile was tentative but genuine, and he thought his ribs might crack.

Unfortunately the moment was ruined by none other than Severus Snape, who sauntered into the room and sneered at them before making his way to the bench at the furthest corner of the classroom. Lily acted as though she had not noticed her ex-best friend arriving, but her back was stiff and her jaw was set as she shoved her book bag under the table.

James would have tried to talk to her about it but Professor Slughorn chose that moment to make his appearance and distract her with a question about anti-venoms. As the rest of the class trickled in James had a moment to think about Severus Snape and Lily Evans.

He'd never really thought about it before, he hadn't really liked to think about how close Lily had been to the snivelling Slytherin. She'd obviously cared for him, Severus had been the main reason that she and James hadn't gotten along before now. It was a shame that she would have to lose a friendship to start a new one, and while James might be selfish when it came to Lily Evans, he knew that he would make a better friend to her than Severus Snape ever could.

Snape was far too attracted to the Dark Arts, and for a muggleborn like Lily that path was just plain dangerous. It was hard enough for her to walk through the corridors alone, with some many pureblood fanatics in attendance at the school, being close to one was bad for her health.

Putting the thought out of his mind he tried to concentrate on the lesson and Lily Evans when she turned to smile at him.

Severus Snape didn't cross his mind again until later that week when he found himself in the library searching for a book about Human Transfiguration.

James paused when he heard what sounded like a whispered argument at the far end of the book shelves. Usually he would have left the unsuspecting couple to their argument but he heard a name he recognised.

"Lily, I just want to talk to you" a pleading voice that sounded a lot like Severus Snape said.

"I don't have anything to say to you" Lily Evans hissed back, her voice laced with venom.

"You don't have to talk, just listen."

"Oh, is that all you want, Sev?" Lily asked, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "With blood as unworthy as mine I should have known, would you like me to kneel down too? Do you need me to call you Severus the mighty pureblood or am I too unworthy to use your name too?"

James had to bite back a laugh. God he loved how sarcastic she was. He might have been upset that she was using her witty prowess on somebody other than him but he was just so glad she hadn't lost her sense of humour entirely.

"Don't be like that, Lil."

"Like what?" she demanded in whispers.

"I'm just trying to apologise for what I said to you before the summer, you know I didn't mean it" he hissed back to her, "You ignored all of my letters."

"I had more important things to worry about."

"Like what, hanging all over your new friend Potter?"

James didn't need the deafening silence that followed to know Lily was cutting Snape with her killer glare. Having been on the receiving end of that glare on more than one occasion he almost felt sorry for the boy.

Almost.

"My parents died this summer, Sev" she told him, her voice cold, "Do you want to know how?"

"Lil-"

"Gas explosion" she told him, "The police told us it was a freak accident, we all know what that's code for."

"Please-"

"You shouldn't be surprised though should you?" Lily hissed, her voice laced with irony. "I suppose you'll be out there following his orders soon enough."

"That's what I want to talk to you about" Severus said hurriedly before he could be interrupted again, "I can protect you."

"Can you protect me from yourself?"

Snape reeled as though she had slapped him in the face and his next word had serious bite, "You have no idea what's out there, silly girl" he jeered, his voice so quiet James had to take a step closer to listen, "I can keep you safe in ways other people couldn't imagine."

"Everything okay, Evans?" James asked, choosing that moment to step from behind the bookcase and eyeing Severus distastefully. He wouldn't do anything to him in front of Lily, because he had promised not to, but that didn't mean he didn't want to. Seeing how close he stood to her made James' blood boil.

Seeming to sense this Lily took a step back, "It's fine, Potter" she said, never taking her eyes away from Severus.

"We were just talking, Potter" Severus spat, his black eyes locked on Lily's green ones. "This conversation doesn't concern you."

"Sirius is starting a pre-match truth or dare competition in the common room" James said conversationally, addressing Lily and ignoring Severus in fear of saying something rude. "He was wondering where you'd got to."

"We're not interested in that blood traitor-" Severus started.

"We're about done" Lily said sadly, her eyes still locked on to Severus. "Sev was just leaving."

Snape's black eyes cut into her, James couldn't tell which emotion was stronger; the anger because she had refused to listen to him, the hurt because she was dismissing him so quickly or the shock that she was choosing James Potter's company over his own. Anger seemed to win out in the end as he turned back to her and hissed, "Remember what I said, Lily" before sweeping past both of them and disappearing behind the book shelves.

Lily let out a breath and crumpled against the bookshelf.

"Want me to walk you back to the common room?" he asked softly.

She nodded and made a move to follow him but her green eyes remained fixed to the floor. He allowed her to lapse into silence until they'd left the library and then he asked, "Are you okay, Lily?"

"Of course" she said sadly, her arms wrapped around herself as though she was cold. "I've heard it all before in his letters, what Sev does rarely surprises me these days."

"I'm sorry about what happened" he said softly, reaching out to touch her before thinking better of it and retracting his hand, "And I'm sorry about your parents."

"Thank you" she said quietly.

"I know you're not ready to talk about it, but I lost my dad when I was thirteen" he told her, "So when you are, you can talk to me, if you like."

She paused in front of the portrait hole and looked up at him, her green eyes swimming with sadness and gratitude, "That's really nice, thank you James."

He just smiled in return and said, "Pigsnout."

The portrait hole swung open and he allowed her to step through first. He spotted his three friends on the armchairs by the fire, where he had left them, Sirius was gesturing with his hands.

"I dare you" he pointed at Remus, "To kiss the prettiest girl in the room." Sirius sat back haughtily and smirked at them all, "And notice how I charitably said girl and not person, because let's face it" he shrugged, "I'd smoke the lot of them."

Lily snorted and dropped herself into armchair beside Sirius, "I love you" she told him, shaking her head through laughter, "You crazy, arrogant, fool."

Sirius grinned and hugged her, "That's nice Ginge" he said, pulling an apologetic face at James from over the top of her head as he took a seat beside Remus.

"I got you a drink" Remus told him, passing him a steaming mug of hot chocolate, "I'm sorry I didn't know you were bringing a guest."

"That's alright" James shrugged, placing the mug on the table, "Evans can have mine."

Lily looked at him with those wide, green eyes, "Oh no, James, it's yours-"

"We could share?" he suggested, interrupting her stuttering.

"Okay" she said quietly, her green eyes shining in the light of the fire. She carefully detangled herself from Sirius and moved to sit on the arm of James' chair. She was so close his arm brushed against her thigh when he moved and he constantly had to remind himself to breathe.

"Right" Sirius sat up and clapped his hands together as though there had been no interruption, "As the prettiest girl in the room has arrived, time to get on with it" he gestured towards Lily, "Off you go, Moony."

Remus' eyes were wide as saucers and it took James a moment to realise what Sirius was getting at, as soon as he did he choked on his hot chocolate and sprayed half of it over a very shocked Sirius. As he choked and tried to get his breath back he ignored Remus' stammering's and Sirius' death threats, all he could hear was Lily Evan's beautiful laugh as she wiped the tears from her face and shook her head at the four crazy boys sat around her.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: Nothing here is owned by me._

 **Chapter 4**

October hit the castle as hard as the weather, cold and harsh winds blew through the corridors and extra fires were lit in the dungeons. James had spent so much time trying to keep track of Lily Evans' whereabouts the first month had flown by and before he knew it he was sat at the breakfast table on the eve of the first Quidditch match of the season.

"Come on, Captain" Sirius coaxed. He was sat beside James at the Gryffindor table, he was also wearing Quidditch robes but unlike James he had manged to shovel two rounds of toast and a fried egg into his mouth. "You should eat something."

James always had trouble eating on the morning of a Quidditch game. He was usually fairly self-assured when it came to his abilities, especially when it was something he was good at. This was different; there was nothing that managed to make him nervous quite like Quidditch, except maybe being around Lily Evans when her hair smelled like cinnamon.

"I don't know why you're so worried" Remus commented from the seat across from him. He and Peter weren't wearing Quidditch robes, but were clad in so much red and gold passers-by were stopping to take a second look before wandering past, slightly starry-eyed. Remus had somehow managed to charm his robes so they flashed red and gold, and several roaring lions pranced along the body. It was a clever bit of spell work, but did leave a person momentarily blinded if they looked at it for too long.

"Yeah" Peter agreed. He was not so handy with Charms, but not wanting to let down the Gryffindor team spirit had painted his entire face a dark red, save several gold stripes across his cheeks and forehead. James couldn't fault his enthusiasm, but he did look as though he was having a bad reaction to a rash. He barely seemed to notice the odd looks he was receiving from the Ravenclaw table as he shoved a forkful of beans into his mouth. "Didn't you say that new Chaser of yours is unbeatable?"

"Gwenog Jones" Sirius shook his head and looked slightly in awe, "She's only a third year, but she has to be the most talented Chaser I've ever seen."

Usually James would have been offended and attmpt to defend his own Chaser capabilities, but he was currently fighting his digestive system to keep down what little breakfast he'd managed to swallow. That and he actually agreed with Sirius, Gwenog had flown spectacularly at try-outs and he'd never seen a chaser so good outside of the Quidditch World Cup itself.

The boys were probably right; he had nothing to worry about.

"Good morning" a soft voice said cheerfully, and he looked up to see Lily Evans had taken the seat beside him. She had her Gryffindor scarf wrapped around her throat and her cheeks were slightly pink as though she had already been out on the grounds. She glanced around at the boys and while she did raise an eyebrow at Remus' strange attire she chose not to comment, most sixth year Gryffindor's were far too used to the various antics of the Marauders. James took a deep breath as his recently calmed stomach began to squirm again at the thought of Lily Evans watching him play the first Quidditch game of the season.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, taking a sip of her orange juice.

"A bit nervous" he admitted.

"Don't tell me I'm going to have to coach you into eating something too" Sirius interrupted, motioning to the fact she had yet to touch anything at the breakfast table.

Lily rolled her eyes, "You lot are obsessed with my eating habits" she accused.

"Maybe if you had any we would be" Remus put in.

Lily stuck her tongue out at him but took a bite out of a dry piece of toast before raising her eyebrows and turning back to James, "What do you have to be nervous about anyway?" she asked. "It's only Hufflepuff."

For someone who had never stepped on a broomstick Lily Evans had an unnatural obsession with Quidditch. She never missed a game, often she shouted herself hoarse cheering on the players and Remus had told James that on more than one occasion he had been forced to hold her back because she was so angry with a foul she was prepared to storm the pitch.

"The Captain is getting in the zone, Evans" Sirius chastised when James failed to answer, "Stop disturbing him."

"Right, sorry" Lily said, standing up quickly. "I only came to wish you luck anyway."

Sirius stood up and hopped over the bench; she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. "Good luck, Snuffles" she said quietly.

"I'll be listening for you, Ginge" Sirius teased before he released her.

James stood up beside them. This was a usual pre-match ritual for the two of them, and while James had attempted to hug her many times before she had always rolled her eyes or snorted scornfully before marching off. Today she turned to face him and she almost seemed nervous.

"Come on then, Evans" he said, holding out his arms and grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "If you want to cuddle me so badly I think I can let you."

He wasn't sure what he expected to happen, but it certainly wasn't Lily letting out a short nervous laugh before wrapping herself up in his arms. "Good luck, James" she breathed.

She was so close he could smell the cinnamon shampoo in her hair and feel every bit of her warm body against his. If he hadn't been in a state of shock he might not have let her go. Unfortunately Sirius chose that moment to pull on his arm and he had to leave Lily Evans and attend his first Quidditch match of the season.

Everyone had been right of course; he'd had nothing to be nervous about. James was sure Gwenog's first match would go down in Hogwarts history, as she manged to score 20 goals by herself. With the help of the other chasers and the seeker catching the snitch forty minutes into the game Gryffindor had beat Hufflepuff by a spectacular 410-50.

That amazing result was the reason an extremely rowdy after party was now in full swing in the Gryffindor common room. Almost all the Butterbeers Remus had managed to bring back from Hogsmeade had been drank, Gwenog had crowd surfed approximately three times and two chants had already been written about her and Sirius had managed to kiss two separate girls.

It was a typical Gryffindor party and James should have been in the thick of it, dancing with his friends and all the pretty girls and celebrating his first win of the season.

But he wasn't.

He was sat nursing a bottle of Firewhiskey and mulling over the conundrum that was Lily Evans. He had spotted her earlier, she had been wearing a floaty green dress and something shiny on her lips and he didn't think she'd ever looked so beautiful. She had been dancing with Sirius the last time he had seen her, then when he turned to ask her for the next dance she had disappeared and he hadn't seen her since.

So now he was sat like a surly teenager with a crush. There was no point in pretending, every room was just brighter with her in it. He sighed as he stood up, downing the remainder of the whiskey from the bottle and abandoning it on the chair.

He was manoeuvring across the dancefloor when he was accosted by Mary McDonald.

Mary was tiny, her head barely reached his shoulder and he could just see over her mountain of blonde hair. She was pretty, in a perky sort of way, and James might have been able to see why Peter liked her so much if his brain wasn't so full of a certain redhead. Mary's blue eyes widened when she spotted him.

"James!" she squealed, throwing her arms around him and deafening anyone in a five mile radius of them, "You played so well today."

"Thanks, Mary" he said, awkwardly patting her on the back.

"You're thinking about Lily, aren't you?" she accused, pointing at him and swaying slightly under the influence of too much of Sirius' fruity concoction. He made some sort of spiked punch for every party and after drinking two glasses, dancing on all the tables then throwing up the contents of his stomach into the Gryffindor fire place at Peter's birthday party last year, James had always avoided it.

"How could you tell?" he asked.

"You have that face" she said, spreading her arms wide but not elaborating. "She likes you though, you know?"

James laughed, "I think you're drunk, Mary" he teased.

Mary shook her head, "I'm right" she said simply, "But you're intense, it scares her."

James' eyebrows furrowed, "Is she okay, Mary?" he asked.

Mary shook her head sadly, "Her parents died, James" she said simply, "Of course she isn't okay."

"Where is she?"

Mary shrugged, "She said something about fresh air."

"Excuse me, Mary" he said, moving past her towards the portrait hole. He passed Sirius who was dancing with his third lady of the evening, he waved at James as he passed but made no move to follow him. As he crossed the empty floor in front of the portrait hole he noticed Peter sleeping soundly on one of the armchairs, snoring softly. All the red and gold paint from earlier had been cleaned from his face, however two third years boys seemed to think he liked using his face as a canvas and were scribbling on his cheeks with their quills.

James rolled his eyes but smiled as he exited the portrait hole.

It might have been a more sensible idea for him to bring the Mauraders Map with him, a useful invention he and his friends had created last year. It was a map of the entire school and had labelled dots of all the teachers and students in their various locations. But James had drank too much Firewhiskey to be thinking sensibly, and Mary had said she had gone to find some fresh air.

He wasn't really even sure why he was looking for her. If she had wanted company she would have no doubt asked Sirius or Remus or even Mary to join her. Yet here he was, stumbling down the corridors in search of Lily Evans.

She was like a magnet and he just couldn't help being attracted to her.

He found her outside. She was sat in the courtyard with her knees up against her chest, a lit cigarette held between two fingers on her right hand and blowing smoke rings out of her mouth.

Lily Evans was smoking now?

The world had definitely turned on its head.

"Since when do you smoke?" He asked, walking across the yard to take a seat on the stone bench beside her.

She rolled the cigarette between her two fingers, "Since when do you care?" she challenged, taking another puff.

"I might have a strange way of showing it, Lily" he defended, "But I've always cared about you."

She mulled over that for a second, taking another long drag from her cigarette.

"Sirius introduced me to my first smoke at the fourth year Halloween party" she admitted.

"I'll kill him" James breathed.

Lily laughed at this, "It wasn't his fault" she said softly, "If it was anyone's, it was yours."

James' eyebrows knitted together, "Mine?" He asked.

She laughed bitterly, "You'd just told me I was more boring than History of Magic with Professor Binns and I was dying to prove you wrong."

"Oh come on Lil" he said softly, bumping his shoulder against hers, "I was so in love with you back then I was afraid my tongue stopped working when I was around you."

She smiled and shook her head as she flicked the butt of the cigarette across the yard, "Sirius was going for a smoke when he found me out here and offered me one" she laughed at the memory, "I pretty much hacked up a lung."

"Bet he found that hilarious."

"He was pretty amused" she agreed, "and it's safe to say that rather put me off smoking."

"So why the sudden change of heart?"

"I stole that one out of Sirius' pocket" she admitted, grinning to herself. "Thought I'd try rebellion again."

"Rebellion doesn't suit you" he told her.

She glared at him, her eyes as hard as emeralds, "You still think I'm boring" she accused.

"I think you're a lot of things, Lily Evans" he told her softly, "You're beautiful and kind and smart and brave." He sighed, shaking his head with amusement, "But I've never once been bored in your presence."

She stood abruptly and turned away from him, "I have to go" she said suddenly.

"Why won't you let me in, Lily?" He shouted after her, "Why won't you let me help you?"

She stopped just short of the door and turned to look at him with those big green eyes, her red hair blew softly in the wind and she sighed. "I want to, James" she said, so quietly he would question himself later as to if he'd even heard it.

Then she turned and disappeared and he was left alone again to mull over the conundrum that was Lily Evans.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

 **Chapter 5**

There were several things in James' life that were important to him. The Gryffindor Quidditch team winning the cup for the fifth year in a row was one. Making Lily Evans laugh until she was clutching onto him for support was another.

The most important thing to him however, were the three crazy boys he called best friends, otherwise known as the Marauders.

All of which had made it their solemn vow to cause as much trouble in the school as possible. This had begun in their second year, when they had all found out one member of their group had a very deep secret.

Remus Lupin was a werewolf.

James hadn't remembered ever feeling sorrier for a person, having to hide something so important from the people he was closest to for fear of abandonment. So he and Sirius had cooked up a scheme, and if they were to succeed, Remus would never have to be alone again.

It had taken some serious work, and a lot of detentions for skiving McGonagall's Transfiguration classes rather than risk her sussing them out, but by their fifth year they had all managed to turn into an animal at will. James was a stag, Sirius was a dog and Peter was a rat.

It was their most creative and brilliant bit of mischief yet, and had bonded the four of them for life.

However, just recently the castle had been a little quiet and due to their constant mission to cheer Lily up there had been a distinct lack of Maraudering, something which Sirius had been eager to point out not two days ago.

Which was the reason James currently found himself sat in a loose circle on the dormitory floor with his three best friends, the centre of said circle was dominated by dozens of shot glasses all filled with clear liquid. Being a Marauder wasn't always about getting into trouble, it was also about having a lot of fun.

Something everyone seemed to sorely need at the moment.

Remus hadn't long had one of his monthly transformations, and turning into a werewolf always made him retreat into himself due to anxiety. He had spent most of the last two days catching up on homework, prefect duties and trying to ignore the niggling feeling that the next full moon wasn't too far away.

Sirius had walked into an empty classroom earlier that day and found his younger brother conversing with seventh year Slytherins that definitely had associations with Voldemort. That had been enough to put Sirius in a foul mood for the rest of the day, for which he had snapped at several loud first years in the common room and gotten detention from Professor Vicary for skipping his Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.

Peter had received his third D in a row on his Herbology homework and had been told to write the essay again. Despite spending most of the day in the library he seemed no further along than he had been that morning. To add insult to injury he had asked a pretty fifth year Hufflepuff to go to the next Hogsmeade trip with him and she'd looked at him as though he'd thrown up all over her shiny new shoes. If Sirius hadn't been so angry James was sure he would have spent the day teasing him, but was glad he didn't as Peter looked gloomy enough.

With his three best friends, and Lily Evans, acting as though the world was ending he knew something needed to be done. While Lily was a work in progress, the boys wouldn't take much to sort out. Nothing could beat an evening of drinking, playing games and laughing at each other's expense.

In true Marauder style.

They had just finished setting up all the shot glasses and Sirius had grinned and said, "Let's get started shall we?" when there was a soft knock on the door. They all glanced around at each other guiltily. It was almost midnight, whoever was knocking wasn't likely to be there for a social call but they hadn't started their game yet, so couldn't have been loud enough to wake anyone. Not that they would, Remus had cast a silencing charm on the door to ensure no one heard them.

"Remus" a voice called softly through the wood, she was so quiet he almost didn't hear her, "Are you awake?"

"Booty call, Moony?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows.

Remus rolled his eyes, "It's Lily you idiot" he said, before getting up to answer the door.

He returned to their little circle with the pretty red head in tow, her hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head and her face was totally devoid of make up. James could see the freckles dusting her nose and the brightness of her eyes, both of which added a slightly innocent quality to her already endearing features. She was wearing tiny pyjama shorts and a jumper so big the arms fell far over her wrists. "I'm sorry if I woke you" she said, her eyes on the back of Remus' head, "I couldn't sleep and I was wondering-"

She stopped when she spotted the other three staring up at her.

"Hey Evans" James grinned.

"Cute pyjamas" Peter put in.

"You come for a sleep over?" Sirius asked.

Lily rolled her eyes, her cheeks a little pink from their staring, "No" she whispered defensively, "I couldn't sleep so I came to get my copy of Challenges in Charming back from Remus."

"Well, that should put you straight to sleep" Sirius commented.

"That's what I'm hoping" she hissed back, cutting Sirius a glare before turning back to look at Remus expectantly.

He hadn't moved but was considering Lily with his head cocked slightly to one side, "As you're here already and you can't sleep, why not stay a while?" he suggested.

"What an excellent idea, Moony!" Sirius exclaimed, shuffling up to make room for her and patting the floor next to him.

"Can you lot not sleep either?" she asked, moving to sit cross legged between Sirius and James.

"Well, we could" Peter said slowly, "But with no lessons until after lunch tomorrow we didn't see the need."

"So we decided to play a little game" James said, gesturing to the lines of shot glasses in the middle of them. "Care to join, Evans?"

"What does this game involve?" she asked.

"It's brilliant" Sirius cut in, puffing out his chest, "I made it up."

"I'm worried already."

James, Peter and Remus all laughed.

"Basically Lily, the shot glasses either have vodka, water or Veritaserum in them" he told her, her green eyes widening over his words. "There are only four shots of Veritaserum, one for each of us, but none of us know which is which."

"So, each round we drink" Peter cut in, "Then someone asks a question, we all have to answer, then the person has to guess who, if anyone, drank the Veritaserum."

"If they guess right they ask another question" said James.

"If they guess wrong, they drink" Sirius said, waving a bottle of Firewhiskey at her.

"Sounds dangerous" she breathed, her eyes locking with James' for a fraction too long. She looked terrified at the thought of baring her secrets to him, and if he was honest he was scared stiff at the thought of what he might say in front of her.

"Too rich for your blood, Evans?" Sirius joked.

Lily snorted, "You think I've never drank Veritaserum before?" she mocked, "You better add another shot boys, I'm in."

Sirius clapped his hands together, "Excellent!" he said, "Right, Wormtail add the shot while we're not looking then Moony mix them around" he commanded, covering Lily's eyes with his hands and gesturing for Remus to do the same. "No cheating!"

When everything was ready they all took a breath, "Right Prongs, you start" said Sirius before reaching out to take a shot. Remus, Peter and Lily all followed suit and he grinned.

"Right, who do you think is the fittest person in the school" he said, starting to his left, "Remus?"

Remus rolled his eyes, "You all already know the answer to that" he said, "Emmeline Vance."

"Peter?"

Peter blushed and squeaked, "Mary McDonald."

Under normal circumstances Peter might not have been embarrassed, all the boys already knew about his little crush. Lily on the other hand had no idea and was staring at him curiously, "Aw Peter, you never said!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Because McDonald is so far out of his league she's practically on another planet" he teased.

Lily ignored him, "I'll talk to her" she said, throwing a wink in Peter's direction.

"Moving on" James said loudly, clearing his throat. "Sirius?"

Sirius looked at him with a deadly straight face, "Sirius Black."

They all snorted.

He turned to look at Lily, his heart pounding in his throat, "Evans?" he asked.

Lily moaned and closed her eyes, "I'm so gonna regret this" she muttered, her face turning bright red. "Benjy Fenwick."

"What?" Sirius screeched from beside her, "That smooth talking Ravenclaw prefect?"

"His nose is wonky" said Remus.

"He's always late to class" said Peter.

"He walks with a limp" said James.

Lily frowned at him, "No he doesn't" she shot back.

"He will by tomorrow afternoon."

Lily laughed, "You lot are crazy, it's not like I'm going to ask him out."

"Would you say yes if he asked you?" Sirius demanded.

She narrowed her eyes, "No" she told him.

"Why not, if you fancy him so much?"

Lily sighed, "Marlene fancies him, and I can't go out with a boy one of my friend's fancies."

"Don't be silly, Ginge" Sirius said, "McKinnon fancies me."

Lily rolled her eyes, "You wish Marlene fancied you."

"Hey Evans" James called, "Do any of your friends fancy me?"

She looked at him strangely, "Not that I know of" she said, her nose wrinkling.

"I guess no one drank Veritaserum" he said, avoiding the knowing look in Sirius' eyes.

When they all nodded he indicated they should take a shot again.

"Okay" he said, "I want to know who your first kiss was with, and where" he said, grinning away to himself like Christmas had come early. "Remus?"

Remus sighed, "Dorcas Medowes, third year" he said in a resigned sort of way, "And it was more of a peck than a kiss."

James turned to Peter, "Wormtail?"

"Meganne Kipling, fourth year" he muttered, "She said she felt sorry for me."

"Sirius?"

"McKinnon, second year" he grinned, "I pulled her into a broom closet for the hell of it."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Evans?"

"Caradoc Dearborn, fifth year" she said, her green eyes staring resolutely back at his. "We were messing around in the library and it just happened."

"But he was a seventh year" Sirius sounded scandalised.

"Do you still talk to him?" James asked.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Why do my questions just turn into an interrogation?" she demanded.

"Your answers are far more interesting than these losers" Sirius pointed his thumb in the direction of the others.

"Remus drank the Veritaserum" said James.

Remus sighed, "You're too good at this game, Prongs" he said, before standing up. "I'm going down to the kitchens to get some food."

He wandered over to his bed and rummaged in his trunk until he found a very old, very battered looking piece of parchment.

"I'll come with you, Moony" Peter said, jumping up and following him on his way out of the door.

"Wimps!" James called after their retreating figures before turning back to the other two, "Right, drink up."

Lily hesitated for a moment; she looked as though she wanted to stop them from leaving the Tower after curfew, but then sighed in a resigned sort of way and took a shot. Lily Evans had spent most of her first year as a prefect trying to stop the Marauders from doing exactly what they wanted. She had never succeeded and usually ended up worse off for her efforts.

She had obviously either decided it simply wasn't worth admonishing them, or she'd look like a bit of a hypocrite if she did, after all she was breaking several school rules herself, sat drinking alcohol and stolen potion in the boys dormitory.

James grinned at the thought as he mulled over his next question.

"What is the worst school rule you've ever broken" he asked, "Sirius?"

Sirius made a face as he pretending to think over this, "It's got to be becoming an illegal Animagus in order to sneak out and explore the Castle grounds with my best friend and part time werewolf once a month" he said finally.

"Got to be" James agreed, grinning. "What about you, Evans?"

Lily pressed her lips together as if she didn't want to say before the words spilled out, "WentskinnydippinginthelakewithAmosDiggory."

The two boys gaped at her for a second before Sirius exploded, "You did WHAT!?"

James eyes flicked between Lily, who was the colour of a beetroot and Sirius, whose eyes were about to pop out of their sockets and said quietly, "I think Evans drank the Veritaserum."

The next minute there was absolute chaos. James and Sirius had both jumped up to pin Lily to the ground at the same moment she had squealed and tried to escape out of the door. James grabbed one of her ankles to pull her back and Sirius straddled her hips to keep her from moving. James couldn't say he was exactly happy about that but they were all too flushed from their fight and Lily was giggling as she struggled.

"This isn't fair!" she told them, fighting against Sirius as James reached to pin down her arms.

"Say Evans, are you ticklish?" James asked.

Lily's eyes went wide but as she opened her mouth to answer Sirius cut her off, "Everyone knows that, Prongs" he said, rolling his eyes. "I want to know more about this skinny dripping with Diggory, why'd you do it?"

"Mary dared me" Lily said, pulling against her restraints, "She knew I fancied Amos but wouldn't do anything about it."

"Is there anyone in this school you don't fancy?" James asked, shaking his head. "Apart from me, of course."

He hadn't meant for it to be a question, but Lily's dose of Veritaserum was fresh and she couldn't help it when her mouth opened and she said, "I never said I didn't fancy you."

James was so shocked he let go of her hands.

"W-what?" was all Sirius could manage.

"But you always said no!" James pointed out, jumping up from where he had been sitting and staring at her shocked. "If you fancy me why would you say no when I asked you out?"

"I said no because you bullied my best friend, hexed people who didn't deserve it and teased me every chance you got" she said, her face bright red as she shoved against Sirius' torso. "Please let me up, Sirius!"

James wasn't sure why Sirius scrambled away from her, maybe it was because she seemed so desperate or because she'd practically begged. It might have even been because he was still so shocked by her last answer he had yet to utter another word; for whatever reason Lily Evans jumped to her feet and whipped around to face the door.

James blocked her exit.

He didn't think he'd seen her so angry since they'd stood at the lake together and she'd told him she'd rather go out with the giant squid than go on a date with him. He might have been happy to see a flicker of the old Lily again, if his curiosity wasn't overriding every rational thought. "James Potter" she said dangerously, whipping out her wand and pointing at him, "I swear to God."

"Help me out here Evans" he implored, holding his hands out in front of him. "I just want some answers."

"Oh, is that all?" Lily asked, laughing in a way that told James she really wasn't amused.

"How often do you get to ask the girl you've been in love with for the past five years anything you want without reprocusions?" James demanded, blocking her exit again. "I just want you to talk to me, Lily!"

"I don't want to talk to you, Potter!" She shouted, her cheeks pink and her breathing laboured from shouting. She gave him one long, hard look and took a deep breath. "Why can't you accept that? Do you have any idea what it's like, having the person who would literally use anything he knows about you to his own advantage, demand you open up and share your deepest secrets with him?"

"I wouldn't-"

"Tell me why I should believe that, when you've just used this situation to your advantage?" she demanded, cutting him off.

"I never meant to-"

"Exactly! You don't even realise you're doing it!" Lily let out a sigh, "I just want us to be friends, James" she said softly, "But sometimes I wonder if that's even possible."

He didn't stop her when she tried to leave this time, and he couldn't quite bring himself to look at Sirius after she'd left the room.


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only wish I did._

 **Chapter 6**

It had been almost a week since the Veritaserum incident, and James began to realise that Lily Evans was avoiding him, once again.

James just couldn't keep up. One minute she was sat next to him in Transfiguration, laughing because he'd transfigured his nose into a turnip; the next she was turning the opposite direction when she spotted him heading towards her in the corridors. He guessed it had something to do with the unfortunate drinking game, he wasn't sure if she was embarrassed or angry, but whatever she was she wasn't about to share it with him.

Her constant mood swings were giving him whiplash.

"Don't feel bad, Prongs" Sirius had said one frosty morning when James shared this phenomenon with his friends as they headed down to breakfast together, "She's avoiding me too."

"And me now that you mention it" Remus added as they all entered the Great Hall, "She's had Edgar Bones cover her last two Prefect rounds with me, I haven't spoken to her since she came up to our dorm last week."

"How'd she convince him to do that?" Peter asked.

"Easy, he fancies her rotten" said Sirius, spotting Mary sat half way down the Gryffindor table and sliding into the seat beside her. "Hey McDonald" he said, completely ignoring Marlene McKinnon sat across from her, "You seen Evans?"

"She received a letter about two minutes ago and left" said Marlene, affronted that Sirius had completely disregarded her entirely. Marlene McKinnon was five foot seven of pure tanned perfection with liquid brown eyes and soft brunette hair; she wasn't used to being ignored.

"A letter?" Remus questioned, his eyebrow raised.

"I think it was from her sister" Mary said quietly, her blue eyes widening imploring towards Sirius.

"Oh James, don't we have to-" Sirius started, getting up from the bench.

"Of course Sirius, how could we have forgotten?" James agreed, turning back towards the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Excuse us ladies" said Remus, throwing them both a wink before turning to follow his friends out of the Great Hall, ignoring Marlene shouts and Mary's raised eyebrows at their strange behaviour.

This was a Marauder emergency, and none of them were prepared to stop and explain.

The four of them found an empty classroom just off the Charms corridor and crammed in, as they all squeezed themselves around one table James hissed, "Who has the map?"

Sirius produced the worn piece of parchment from his back pocket and placed it on the table between the four of them. Remus reached out and touched it with the tip of his wand whispering, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Slowly the entire of Hogwarts castle and grounds criss-crossed across the parchment in black ink, labelled dots of both students and teachers alike began to appear as James unfolded the map and spread it across the table. "Search for Evans" he instructed.

The four of them put their heads together and it didn't take long before Remus found her, "There she is" he said, pointing at a dot labelled 'Lily Evans.'

"Why is she just stood outside the library?" Peter asked, raising his eyebrows.

"There's a windowsill on that corner" said Remus, moving back to lean against one of the tables, "She likes to sit there and look out onto the grounds."

"How do you know that?" James asked sceptically.

"Because we, unlike you, actually know a few things about her" Sirius cut in.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" James demanded, firing up immediately.

"It means you need to stop moping around wondering what you did wrong when it's pretty damn obvious" Sirius said, taking a step closer to James and crossing his arms over his chest. "You should never have pushed her for answers."

"I wanted to know what she was thinking!" James defended himself.

"I've been telling you for weeks to give her some space!" Sirius pointed out. "You don't know her James, stop pretending like you do!"

"Maybe I could if you gave me a chance!"

"Enough!" Remus stepped between the two of them just as Sirius opened his mouth to retaliate, "Padfoot, why don't you go and talk to her?"

Sirius shook his head, "You're better with the touchy feely stuff than I am, Moony."

Remus nodded in agreement and made a move to leave the room.

"No" James cut in, placing his hand on Remus' shoulder to stop him from leaving. "Let me go and talk to her."

"You?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Got a problem with that?"

"I think last week proved you've no idea how to handle Lily."

"I care about her!" James burst out.

"We know, James" Remus said softly, "But the way you acted last year didn't really show her that you cared about her."

"No better time to prove it then" he huffed, swinging his bag over his shoulder. "I'll meet you in Potions" he muttered, turning on his heel and marching out of the empty classroom.

James took a deep breath and tried to control the two emotions battling for dominance in his head. The first was concern for Lily. The second was anger. He fumed as he mulled over Sirius' words, refusing to believe they were true.

Didn't they all realise he knew what a prat he'd been all of last year? Hadn't they noticed that was why he was trying to act a little differently? He'd spent a lot of time joking around with Lily in fifth year and he really regretted it now, if he hadn't treated the possibility of a date with her as such a joke then maybe she would have taken him more seriously.

Did his friends not know how serious he was? How much he cared about her.

His anger and jealousy over Sirius bubbled out over his skin like hot lava. Who did he think he was, claiming to know Lily _so_ well? Sirius was only friendly with Lily when it suited him, was only nice to her when James was around.

James was the one who really cared about her.

Why didn't anyone see that?

He paused for a moment when he spotted her and took a deep breath in an attempt to control his anger. It would not do well to start a conversation with Lily when he was angry, even the calm ones seemed to end badly. She was sat cross legged on the window ledge exactly where Sirius had said she would be.

It irked James how well Sirius seemed to know her. He wanted to know her too, he cared about her more than Sirius ever would. If only she would let him.

Lily wasn't looking out of the window as Sirius had suggested she would be, instead she was looking at a piece of paper open on her lap. Her red hair spilled down her back and her green eyes looked even bigger on her face. Despite all their efforts Lily still wasn't eating, and had lost a lot of weight because of it. Her face was skinny, her arms were so thin he could have easily snapped them in two and her face was chalk white.

This was not to say that she was not beautiful. In his very humble opinion, Lily Evans would always be beautiful. But he did miss the colour in her cheeks and the spark in her eyes.

"Hey Evans" he said quietly, startling her so she jumped and looked up at him. A few stray tears lingered on her eyelashes as she glanced at him. "Have you been crying?"

Lily made a move to wipe her eyes but James beat her to it, catching the last tear clinging to her eyelash. He was so close he could feel her breath against his cheek, "What are you doing here, Potter?" she asked.

"I came to talk to you" he said simply, sitting down on the window ledge beside her.

"I don't really want to talk to you" she said softly, her eyes staring resolutely down at her feet.

"You can't avoid me forever" he chastised softly, "Or the boys, Remus is starting to worry he's personally offended you."

Lily sighed and turned to look out of the window, "I thought it would be easier if I wasn't around as much."

"We were trying to be friends" James pointed out.

"Were we?" Lily asked, glancing at him for the first time. "I thought so, but every time we made a little bit of progress you went back to talking about the boys I used to fancy, or reminding me that you still have feelings for me."

"Sirius talks about boys you used to fancy all the time" James said quietly.

Lily rolled her eyes, "He does it to wind me up" she said, looking at him with those big sad eyes, "I told you I couldn't hurt you anymore James, and I see in your eyes how much I hurt you whenever I bring them up."

"Look Lily, there's no point in pretending the past didn't happen" he pointed out, shifting his leg so his body was angled towards her. "But I really want to give this friendship thing a go, and I will try harder."

"You think we can do that?" Lily asked, she looked almost hopeful and James took heart from that.

"Why don't we start over?" he suggested, reaching out his hand towards her. "I'm James Potter, I'd really like us to be friends."

Lily looked like she might laugh as she reached out to shake his proffered hand, "I'm Lily Evans" she told him, "I could really use a friend right now."

"So, what are you doing sat here all by yourself then?" he asked.

"I was just thinking" she told him sadly.

"You know Evans, friends tell each other stuff" he teased, nudging her with his arm.

He thought he saw a ghost of a smile on her lips, before she passed him the piece of white paper she had been studying. It appeared to be the letter Marlene had alluded to earlier, and James had to assume as it was not written on parchment, that it was from a muggle.

 _Dear Lily_ , he read.

 _I am merely writing to inform you that Vernon has recently proposed to me, and I have accepted him. I would like to invite you to the wedding as I believe it is what mother and father would have wanted; therefore please find enclosed an invitation for you and a guest. I would prefer if you didn't bring that vile Snape boy with you, however the choice is yours._

 _Unfortunately the upcoming wedding means I have been forced to push forward the sale of our late parents' house, I don't see the sense in waiting now and I'd like to move along with my life. I am living with Vernon's parents for the time being but I am afraid to tell you that I cannot allow you to come and stay here for Christmas; you know how Vernon feels about you and your sort of people._

 _I will see you at the wedding next July._

 _Yours,_

 _Petunia._

James' first thought was that he and Lily's sister at the very least had one thing in common; they both detested that vile Snape boy. His second was thought was disbelief that Lily could put up with this person as her sister, who didn't seem to have any compassion for the fifteen year old girl who had just lost her parents.

He always thought loss brought people together, but he guessed in this case it drove people further apart.

"It's from my sister" Lily said quietly when she noticed he had stopped reading.

James nodded absently as he crushed the paper into a ball with his fist, "What does she mean by your sort of people?" he asked.

"Magical people" Lily said, sighing as she reached for her school bag. "It's ironic really; here I'm bullied for being a muggle and back home my sister doesn't talk to me because I'm a witch."

"I didn't know you had a sister" he said, simply because he didn't know what else to say.

Lily smiled sadly, "I don't talk about her much."

"I can see why."

She frowned at him and collected her things together, "We should get to class, Potter."

He hastened to keep up with her as she began marching down the corridor at a breakneck speed, "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

Lily glanced at him and raised her eyebrows, "Do you want to listen?"

"I've been known to be a very good listener" he boasted, puffing his chest out as they walked. "The trick is to keep your mouth shut long enough to hear what other people are saying."

Lily laughed, "Something I'm sure you haven't mastered" she teased.

"Give me a try" James implored his eyes wide.

The redhead sighed and rolled her eyes, "Me and Tuney fell out when I first found out I was a witch, it was Sev who told me when we were both about nine" Lily explained, "I think Tuney resented me having this gift and someone else to share it with, something I would never be able to share with her. She has used every opportunity she can to remind me what a freak I am ever since."

James opened his mouth to interrupt but she shot him a look, "You promised you wouldn't open that mouth, Potter."

Slowly he pressed his lips together and nodded for her to continue.

"Well, after our parents died we sort of got closer, I suppose that's what loss does to people" she shrugged, "We lived in our parents' house together over the summer and Tuney promised not to sell it, she said we would have a family Christmas together to remember them." Lily's voice wobbled when she said this and came dangerously close to cracking but her eyes remained dry. "Anyway, we don't have a lot of money and weddings don't come cheap, so I suppose I understand why she's doing it."

Lily turned and levelled him with that green eyed stare that always managed to leave him breathless, "I'm just worried about the summer, I don't exactly have any money or anywhere to go" she explained.

"You can stay with me" he said, the words were out of his mouth before he'd even realised what he was saying. He mentally kicked himself, they were only just making strides towards friendship, of course Lily Evans would not want to stay in his house for two months. She barely knew him. He expected her to look scandalised at the very idea.

She wasn't, instead she snorted and said, "Be serious!"

James sighed as they crossed the Entrance Hall together on their way to the dungeons, "Oh come on, Evans" he groaned, "I know you like him more than me but do you have to rub it in my face?"

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing but her green eyes were dancing with mirth.

"Plus if you're really worried about money you could always just marry me" he jested, shoving her lightly in the arm as they made their way to where the class were lined up outside Professor Slughorn's classroom. "I'm pretty rich."

At this she did laugh a warm, comforting sound that he felt right down to the soles of his feet.

"You're so full of it, James" she giggled, rolling her eyes. His heart skipped a beat at the sound of his name and he had to wonder if she even realised she'd used it.

"What's so funny?" Sirius asked, his eyebrows furrowing as they reached him and Remus stood together at the back of the queue.

"Potter has just proposed to me" she informed them, grinning away as if Christmas had come early and her eyes shining brighter than they had in months.

"I call best man!" Sirius shouted, holding his hand up and grinning smugly at Remus.

"Ring bearer!" Remus retaliated, shouting as though there was someone to compete with.

James laughed, "I'm not telling Peter he can't be in the ceremony."

"Don't worry, I'll give him first pick of the bridesmaids" Lily whispered, throwing him a wink that made the pit of his stomach swoop.

"Come on now, Ginge" Sirius piped up, "You can't promise him that when you know they'll all be fighting over me."

Lily snorted and skipped to move next to Sirius as Professor Slughorn opened the door and the line began to shuffle into the classroom, "I think my bridesmaids will have better taste, Snuffles."

James paused in the doorway behind Sirius and Remus as Lily made her way to their bench. He wasn't sure what to do now, in the last Potions lesson she had avoided sitting beside him, and he wondered if that would still be the case. She had strategically managed to sit with Milly Davies between the two of them to act as a buffer, the perky little Hufflepuff was so fascinated by James she spent most of the lesson chattering, and James suspected Lily had planned it that way, so he hadn't been able to speak to her.

Today however Lily turned to him and grinned, "Come on, hubby" she called from across the room, "Are you my partner or what?"

"Oh, you don't want to say things like that to him Lily" Sirius teased as James remained rooted to the spot. "You'll give him a heart failure."

Lily's eyes went wide as galleons and she quickly turned around and busied herself with emptying her schoolbag onto the desktop. James thumped Sirius in the arm on his way past and made his way to where Lily was sitting. Just when he thought he was making some progress with Lily Evans, his so called best friends just had to go and mess it up.

"Lily-" he said quietly, placing his hand on her shoulder.

She turned to look at him, her green eyes wide and her cheeks a little pink, "James, I'm so sorry!" She said breathily, "I didn't even think-"

"I like it better when you don't think" he interrupted her.

"James-" she started.

"Lily" he admonished, "Calm down, would you be having this sort of reaction if I were Sirius?"

"Well, no" she admitted.

"We just agreed to be friends" he pointed out, "And I am a little envious of your easy going friendship with him."

"Really?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows. "I'm horrible to him most of the time."

James laughed, "Go on then, Evans" he teased, "What would you say if Sirius asked you to marry him?"

Lily wrinkled her nose but her green eyes twinkled with amusement, "No thanks, I can't have a groom that takes longer to get ready than I do."

James laughed and shook his head as he watched Professor Slughorn enter the classroom from his office and take the lid off a cauldron sat on the very front bench, "Should I read something into that?" he whispered, watching Lily out of the corner of his eyes, "That you said yes to me, but no to Sirius."

He expected her to snort, to shake her head and tell him she'd rather marry the giant squid. What did happen was something he did not expect.

A fair, pink blush painted her cheeks.

It wasn't the first time he had made Lily Evans blush. Anytime that he had made her angry with his indecent proposals or embarrassed her by tripping her up in the Great Hall, she'd always blushed. It was usually an angry, blotchy red that covered her entire face and made her look like steam was about to erupt from her ears.

This was different.

This was a delicate pink flush. It told him she was obviously embarrassed about something that she didn't want him to know about. He was pretty sure that something had everything to do with him.

"Are you blushing, Evans?" he teased, turning to face her and unable to stop the full blown grin covering his face.

"No" she said quietly as her blush intensified and she leant her head forward to hide it behind a curtain of hair.

"Yes you are!" he grinned triumphantly and reached out to poke her between the ribs, secretly pleased with himself as she squirmed away from him and tried to hide a smile of her own. "It's okay to admit you like me better than him you know, I won't tell."

Lily giggled and when she looked at him he saw her eyes were sparkling for the first time in so long he couldn't remember. For the first time since he'd seen her at the end of fifth year she looked like her old self. She looked happy and carefree again, like she wasn't carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.

His heart soared when he realised that was all down to him.

"Shove off, Potter" she said, but she was still grinning.

"Settle down over there, Mr Potter" Slughorn called from the front of the classroom, "And Lily, I can only assume you're so giddy at the thought of making this Potion here."

Lily turned away from him to address Slughorn, "Of course, Professor."

Lily Evans was the only person that could get away with misbehaving in one of Slughorn's lessons. She was his absolute favourite pupil, something which he delighted in telling anyone who would listen, right before he informed them that she was a muggleborn.

Could you believe it?

"Jolly good" the Professor said jovially, "And as you're so excited, would you mind sharing with the class the name of this extraordinary potion?"

"It's Polyjuice Potion, Professor" Lily answered, and James turned to see that it was the mud-like potion bubbling away in the cauldron in front of him. "It allows the drinker to take the form of another person."

"Right you are as usual Lily, twenty points to Gryffindor!" Slughorn exclaimed, looking exceedingly happy with himself. "Now this potion takes a month to stew once it's complete so I won't be able to grade you today, but if you turn to page twelve of your books then we can get started."

As Slughorn continued to drone on about the effects and difficulty of the Polyjuice Potion, James couldn't help but glance at Lily. He caught her eyes out of the corner of his and she threw him a grin, her cheeks still slightly pink from earlier.

Maybe this whole friendship thing wouldn't be so bad, he thought to himself. If Lily Evans was willing to sit next to him in Potions class and laugh at his jokes, then he could get through pretty much anything.


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I'm still not the owner of anything._

 **Chapter 7**

The Marauders had decided, most rightly, that it had been far too long since they had played a really good prank. James had been so busy with trying to keep Lily's spirits up, Quidditch and keeping an eye on Remus every full moon that he had almost forgotten the Marauders most solemn oath, to cause as much mischief as possible.

So they had spent the night in their dormitory until one in the morning planning the next day. It was already the second month of term and none of them had managed to receive a single detention. Of course, Remus did have a brilliant knack of talking his way out of detentions, with those golden eyes and that innocent Remus 'I'd never break a rule' Lupin expression. Even Professor McGonagal had been fooled more than once.

Sirius of course, had already received two detentions. His target was one for each month, and any more he could get were just a bonus. His first had been in the last week of September when the Head Girl Felicity Jones had caught him and Meganne Kipling snogging in the third floor broom closet after hours.

His second had been only a week ago, when Professor Flitwick had caught him dragging Mrs Norris around the corridors on a lead. James wasn't sure which was more impressive, the fact he had gotten away with only one detention or the fact that he had managed to catch the damn cat in the first place.

So Sirius had pronounced the rest of them to be wimps that were not fit for their Marauder names, and so they had sat up until the early hours of the morning and planned a prank war that would last the entire day. Remus had noticed that Lily was not the only person in the castle who was down at the moment; several muggleborns had lost relatives during Voldemort's rise to power and those who hadn't still suffered at the hands of the pureblood maniacs that inhabited the school.

Peter, in a fit of unexpected genius, had decided those should be the first targets of an all-out prank war.

Their next challenge would be to try and bring a bit more fun and joy back into the castle again, which was beginning to look distinctly gloomy as the weather worsened. James' mother had always taught him that any moment might be his last and he needed to live that way, after his father had died fighting he had really begun to live that philosophy.

So with that in mind, and the thought of the way Lily would look at him when she saw him hexing first years again, he had spent a good hour convincing Sirius that their pranks should be fun rather than vindictive.

Phase one would begin at breakfast and they were all feeling slightly giddy as they sat down beside Lily and Mary at the Gryffindor table that morning. Lily was spreading liberal amounts of marmalade onto her toast and turned to smile at James as he sat down beside her.

"Good morning, ladies" Sirius grinning charmingly while pouring himself a glass of orange juice.

"What are you looking so smug about?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I just have a good feeling about today" Sirius replied, unable to hide his huge grin as he reached for a plate of sausages, "Don't you agree, Mr Prongs?"

"Indeed, Mr Padfoot" James agreed, nodding enthusiastically as he spooned honey onto his porridge, "Today may be the best day of term so far."

Mary snorted and shook her head, "You're kidding right?" she demanded, "We have double Muggle Studies last thing today."

"Ah, but lessons are not everything, Mary" said Remus in a tone that suggested he was trying to sound wise.

"They are when you have Transfiguration first thing" Lily muttered bitterly, dropping her crust onto her now empty plate. "I've been practising all night and I'm still rubbish at human transfiguration."

"Sit next to me, Evans" James said easily, knocking his shoulder against hers. "It'll give me an excuse to turn your eyebrows blue this time."

Lily ducked her head into her plate as she smiled but said softly, "Alright Potter."

Any further conversation was interrupted by an explosion at the Slytherin table, in which several fifth, sixth and seventh years had dropped their goblets and gasped.

Lily turned and raised an eyebrow in James' direction but he was staring resolutely away from her, he knew the moment he looked into her eyes his guilty face would give him away. They'd been getting along so well lately and he just prayed what was about to happen wouldn't knock their progress. He really didn't want to have to choose between Lily and being a Marauder.

Suddenly Evan Mulciber stood up and yelled, "Muggleborns are Wizards too!"

A stunned silence swept over the hall before Amycus Carrow, a fifth year Slytherin known for torturing muggleborns stood up and yelled, "Down with blood purity!"

Then the entire hall erupted into chaos.

All students, bar those on the Slytherin table, burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. The Slytherin table descended into further anarchy, almost every sixth and seventh year known for bullying muggleborns or preaching about blood purity was stood up and shouting about the equality of wizards.

Just as several of the teachers began to descend from the top table to restore order Remus said, "I suggest we get to class, don't you say lads?"

Sirius jumped up, "What a brilliant idea, Mr Moony!" he exclaimed before following Remus, "Catch you later, Pete!"

James reached out to grab Lily's hand and pull her along with them, he heard her giggling as she called goodbye to Mary.

They didn't stop until they were in the Transfiguration corridor and all of them were slightly breathless. "What are you lot like?" Lily demanded, still giggling slightly and her cheeks pink from running.

"I don't know what you mean, Lily" said Remus, turning the full force of his eyes on her. Remus Lupin was the only Marauder who had fully mastered the knack of looking innocent. Either he was a really good liar, or James and Sirius just looked a hell of a lot more guilty than he did. Whatever it was, those golden eyes had gotten Remus out of detention more times than James could count.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Come on" she snorted, "What happened in the Great Hall had your names written all over it."

"You're not mad are you, Evans?" James asked.

"I thought it was brilliant!"

The three of them all stood stock silent for a second before Sirius reached out and pinched her arm.

"Ow!" Lily exclaimed, "What did you do that for?"

"Just checking you were real" Sirius said, narrowing his black eyes at her. "Now, who are you and what have you done with Lily Evans?"

"Oh, shove off Black" she said, snorting.

"Lily Evans laughing at one of our jokes?" Remus said suspiciously.

"Lily Evans not telling us we're childish?" James demanded, eyebrows raised.

"Lily Evans not threatening to put us in detention?" Sirius said, his face still inches from hers.

"Come on, I'm not that bad!"

They all simply stared at her.

"It should be me asking you lot what's gotten into you, not the other way around!" she defended, "Since when do you play such a harmless prank on Slytherins, and since when do you segregate only those who deserve it?"

"Oh, well that was Prong's idea" Sirius said easily as he turned around to walk towards their classroom. "I was all for getting the entire table, but James didn't think it was fair to curse the ikkle firsties."

"Our Prongs is growing up" said Remus, smiling knowingly before he turned to follow Sirius.

Lily turned to grin at him, "Well, I thought it was brilliant" she told him, before following the other two to Transfiguration.

James didn't think his smile could get any bigger.

The day continued much like that, and there wasn't much chance for the students to catch their breath before another prank started up.

James was walking with Lily to Charms after their morning break was over, which acted as a perfect distraction as both Sirius and Remus had disappeared to being Phase Two.

A suit of armour stepped out of the corridor, looked right at her and said, "If I may say, you look lovely today."

Lily looked so shocked she obviously wasn't sure what to do. She glanced up at the suit of armour, then over to James, then back to the armour. James almost laughed at her obvious confusion when a clattering noise came from behind them.

They turned to see Nicholas Avery sprawled on the floor, his books and quills lying haphazardly around him and his robes tangled around his legs. Just behind him a suit of armour could be seen with its foot sticking slightly out, which James had to bet was what Avery had tripped over not moments before.

He slung his arm around Lily's shoulders to pull her away from the scene and she hid her giggle in his chest as they escaped to Charms together, both trying desperately not to burst into hysterical laughter. She moved to sit by Remus in the classroom but every time she caught his eye he could see she was fighting laughter.

As they left the Charms classroom the corridors became hectic, soon to be made worse by several students spontaneously being hoisted up by their ankle and dangling in the air for a few seconds before falling back to the ground. Completely chaos ensued as people pushed past each other in an attempt to reach their next classroom unscathed.

Lily was stood in the corridor beside James, she turned to glance at him before looking down at the skirt she was wearing and taking off to her third period History of Magic class without looking back.

James chuckled to himself as he made his way up to the common room for this free period with the rest of the Marauders. If any of the others had even thought about hexing Lily, including Sirius, he would have strangled them himself.

Not that she needed his protection; she was perfectly capable of doing her own strangling.

"Well gentlemen" he said, grinning to himself as they all walked through the portrait hole together. "I think today has been rather a success."

"Indeed" Sirius agreed, settling himself down in one of the armchairs by the fire. "All the Slytherin's are still in the hospital wing, I heard that new healer Pomfrey only managed to get them to stop yelling during second period."

"I still don't understand why we couldn't get all the Slytherin's" Peter complained, sitting down on the rug by the fire and crossing his legs.

"It's called growing up, Wormtail" Remus said mildly, "Hexing people who deserve it not just because we can."

"Yeah" Sirius agreed, rolling his eyes. "Prongs has gone soft in his old age."

"Shove it, Padfoot" James said, sticking his tongue out. "Big finale at lunch?"

"Of course" Sirius grinned, "Got all the beans, Wormtail?"

"My school bag weighs a ton" Peter complained.

"The pain of a prankster" Sirius sighed in a mournful sort of way before pulling a deck of cards out of his back pocket, "Exploding snap, gentlemen?"

They played for the next hour before they had to go down to lunch and as they reached the Great Hall James immediately spotted Lily's flaming red hair in the middle of the table. Mary and Marlene must have been delayed because she was sat alone and Sirius made a beeline straight for her.

Perhaps her friendship with Sirius did have its advantages, James thought as he sat down at the bench across from her. He didn't have to keep making up excuses to spend time with her.

"Hello boys" she said warily as she spooned ham and chicken pie onto her plate.

"Alright Evans" Sirius grinned, "Enjoy History of Magic?"

"It was as scintillating as ever" she said, rolling her eyes. "Did you four manage to stay out of trouble while I was gone?"

"Do we ever do anything else?" Remus admonished, smiling at her.

"I see all the Slytherin's made it out of the Hospital Wing" she said conversationally, gesturing to where Severus Snape and Evan Mulciber were sat together.

"For the time being" James said lightly.

Lily speared a broccoli with her fork but didn't say anything, which was completely fine because James was trying to communicate with Sirius without saying a word. The final prank was about to happen and it was made ten times harder by the fact they were sat with dozens of people around them.

As the food melted away from the golden plates and was slowly replaced by desert James nodded at Remus and all at once the tables in the Great Hall, minus the Slytherin table, all exploded in a shower of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Sweets rained down on everyone's heads and James glanced at Lily to catch her laughing as she held her arms over her head to protect herself.

As the sweets shower ended another explosion occurred and four sets of fireworks exploded into the air. Students turned to look up in awe as showers of sparks flew over their heads and slowly spelled out Courtesy of the Marauders.

The entire hall exploded in cheers and a wave of applause as James and his three friends stood on their benches and bowed to the crowds.

"You four!" Professor McGonagall's voice echoed over the cheers and the hall fell silent. Her lips were pressed together in silent fury as she glared at them, an image only made more hilarious by Dumbledore sat beside her looking thoroughly amused and reaching for a stray Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean, "I will not tolerate this kind of idiocy!"

"Right you are, Minny!" Sirius called from the top of the bench, "Is there a specific type of idiocy you will tolerate?"

As another wave of laughter overtook the hall Professor McGonagall looked as though steam might erupt from her ears at any moment.

"Detention in my office this Saturday" she bellowed over the crowd, "For all four of you."

"May I say you look simply radiant this afternoon" Sirius called back over the crowd.

"Get to your Common Room, Black!" she yelled over more shouts of laughter, the sides of her lips twitching.

"If you insist!" Sirius called, jumping down from the bench and making his way to the exit, pulling Lily along with him. The other three followed and were chased out of the hall by shouts of laughter and occasional applause. This was only made louder when the Slytherin table began to realise they couldn't get up from their seats because every single one of them was stuck to their benches.

The five of them exited the hall as further chaos erupted.

"What you did to the Slytherin's was a bit mean" Lily chastised as they began to climb the stairs together.

"Lighten up, Evans" Sirius rebuked, "It was just a laugh."

"But they didn't all deserve it, just because they're Slytherin" Lily pressed, reaching to pull a stray sweet out of her hair.

"They think we deserve to be hexed just because we're Gryffindor" Peter pointed out.

Lily pressed her lips together and glanced around them all of them, visibly torn. James guessed she really had thought it was funny and didn't want to ruin their elation, but she was Lily Evans, and she would never agree with hexing people for the hell of it.

It was one of the reasons she had James had never gotten along before now.

"It's okay, Lil" Remus said, reaching out to touch her shoulder, "It was harmless."

James sighed as the bell rang overhead, "I better go to Muggle Studies" he said grumpily.

"Aw, don't look so downtrodden Potter" Lily said, grinning. "I thought today was supposed to be the best day of term so far."

"Yeah" Sirius agreed jovially, "Enjoying learning about Jellytones."

Lily rolled her eyes, "It's called a telephone" she corrected, "Honestly Snuffles, maybe you should take Muggle Studies next year."

Sirius laughed as he threw his arm around her shoulder, "Why would I need to do that when I have you?"

They both walked towards the Gryffindor common room arm in arm and James sighed as he turned to make his way to his last period Muggle Studies class, wishing more than anything that he could be heading back to the tower with the others.


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Harry Potter universe._

 **Chapter 8**

Time changed things, and while James Potter didn't particularly like change, this time he was actually rather happy about it.

Things just felt right.

Himself and the rest of the Marauders had completed their allotted detentions and were free for the first Hogsmeade trip of the term which was coming up the following weekend.

James wasn't sure who he was going to ask to accompy him yet. The four friends often went to the village together, however in recent years Sirius was rarely seen without a date and had already been asked to go by someone. With his track record, it wouldn't be the last.

He knew who he'd like to ask, he'd like to ask Lily. The problem was he'd asked Lily to every single Hogsmeade trip of their fifth year. Not only had she gotten very creative in the way she turned him down, he was also beginning to think she took it as a bit of a joke.

He really didn't want that, but he also really didn't want to ruin things because Lily Evans was almost happy, and when he sat down next to her in a class she didn't yell at him or glare. In fact, most of the time she smiled in his direction and that did interesting things to his insides. That thought made him so happy he could practically produce a corporeal Patronus in his sleep. She had starting eating again and now when she laughed at Sirius' jokes it wasn't because she felt like she had to, he could see the sparkle in her eyes.

To top it off, it was Halloween, and he was heading to the feast.

Life could not get better.

It was in that frame of mind that Mary McDonald accosted him in the Entrance Hall.

"Potter!" she hissed, pulling on his arm to detach him from Sirius who was looking at Mary curiously with his eyebrows raised. "I need to talk to you!"

"What can I help with, McDonald?" he asked mildly, pulling his arm out of her grasp. "If you want to ask me to Hogsmeade I'm afraid I'd have to decline."

"Don't be a prat" she said, pulling a face. "I want to talk to you about Lily."

"Does she want to ask me to Hogsmeade?" he asked.

"If she did then I'm sure she'd be the one here talking to you" Mary pointed out, rolling her eyes, "I just wanted to tell you that we were up until like two this morning talking-"

"So that's why she's wearing that weird braid on one side of her head" said James, nodding appreciatively. "You know, I did wonder."

"You're so weird, Potter."

"You wanted to talk to me, McDonald."

"Alright, I just wanted to say that Lily finally opened up and talked to me about everything!"

James frowned, "Why are you telling me this."

Mary sighed, "Just whatever you're doing James, keep doing it."

"I'm not sure I follow you" he said, thoroughly confused.

Mary glanced over his shoulder before pulling on his arm, "Just look" she hissed, pointing at the bottom of the stairs.

He turned to see Lily talking to two second year Hufflepuff girls, one of the girls had blonde hair gathered in two plaits at each side of her head and Lily reached down to touch one. "I really like your hair, Sally" she said, smiling down at the younger girl.

"Thanks Lily!" the girl called Sally exclaimed.

"I did it!" the brunette next to her said, not wanting to be left out.

"It looks great" Lily smiled, "How's your Charms coming along, Emily?" she asked the brunette.

Emily wrinkled her nose, "I don't think I'm very good at Charms."

"Well I can always help you out" Lily suggested, smiling. "If you ever get stuck just come and find me."

But girls chorused their thanks before turning and disappearing into the Great Hall.

It was like taking a trip into one of his memories from last year, watching Lily offer to help out second years. Lily Evans was the only person he had ever met who had willingly offered to tutor a younger student, he was sure she was the only person he'd ever met who knew the names of younger students who weren't either on the Quidditch team or related to her.

Most people didn't pay attention to younger students, but she was Lily Evans, and she paid attention to everyone.

Just watching her made his stomach twist into knots.

She raised her eyebrows when she caught them staring and made her way over to where they were stood, "What are you two doing?" she asked.

"Mary was just telling me how amazing I am" James said conversationally, "Isn't that right, Mary?"

"You're still a prat, Potter" Mary muttered before storming passed him and into the Great Hall.

Lily gave him a look before she turned to follow her friend.

"Are you coming to the Halloween Party tonight, Evans?" he asked as he followed her into the hall.

"Sirius made me promise on pain of death" she said, sighing as she took a seat beside Mary and across from Sirius. "I do have a Transfiguration essay to write."

"Now is not the time for being a swot, Evans" Sirius admonished, pointing his fork at her accusingly.

Lily rolled her eyes as she helped herself to the food.

"Are we dressing up?" Mary asked.

"Well, it is a party" said Peter.

Mary rolled her eyes, "No, like fancy dress" she explained, and when she was faced with more blank stares she sighed and tried again. "Like when you dress up as someone else."

"Why would we do that, McDonald?" Sirius asked, looking at her as though she'd grown a second head. "Some of us look fabulous already, we don't need to pretend to be someone else."

"Because it's Halloween!"

"Muggles dress up on Halloween" Lily put in, spearing a potato with her fork.

"Don't they usually dress up as witches and wizards though?" James pointed out, "We can't exactly dress up as muggles, so the only other option is to go as ourselves."

"This is the most ridiculous conversation we have ever had" Remus said, shaking his head.

"So no to dressing up then?" said Mary sulkily.

"We'll still get dressed up, Mary" Lily placated. "Marlene has a terrifying idea for my outfit."

"Say Evans" Sirius interrupted, "Do you have a date to Hogsmeade?"

Lily went pink around her ears, "Amos Diggory asked me to go with him yesterday."

"Get you" said Remus teasingly, elbowing her in the arm. "Date with the Head Boy."

James felt as though his stomach had turned to lead and he was suddenly having a hard time getting his tongue to work. He really didn't want his jealous feelings to show but he couldn't help it. The thought of Lily on a date with someone made him sick, but she had said she wanted to be friends, and friends were happy when their other friends went on dates.

Just not when it was with that prat Diggory.

"I told him no" she said quietly.

"Aw Lily!" Mary complained as James felt his heart soar, "Why'd you do that, you've fancied him for ages!"

Lily shrugged, "I don't think I'm ready to start dating yet" she said, twirling her fork around in her food. "I'd have to explain everything about my parents."

The table was silent for a second before she continued.

"Plus, how do I explain these four?" she said, gesturing around to the Marauders. "I've barely had a second alone this week, Sirius even tried to follow me into the girl's toilet yesterday."

"Sirius will use any excuse to try and get into the girls toilets" Peter put in.

James just laughed, "I guess you're stuck with us, Evans" he teased.

Lily rolled her eyes, "I've been stuck with Sirius since fourth year" she said in a put upon sort of way, but she was smiling.

Sirius threw her a wink from across the table.

"Shouldn't we go and set things up in the common room?" Peter suggested.

The other three nodded and made a move to leave as Lily asked, "Do you need any help?"

"You ladies just turn up and look beautiful" Remus said reassuringly, "We'll do the rest."

The four of them left the table together and made their way back the Gryffindor tower. They had already gotten all the alcohol and snacks for the party, so while Sirius got to work making his punch for the evening and Remus and Peter began hanging decorations, James started moving furniture to make a dancefloor and placing silencing charms around the room so they could play music.

They had hosted so many parties in the Gryffindor Common Room they had the planning down to a fine art, and half an hour later they all disappeared into the dormitory to change.

As per usual the party was in full swing when James descended the stairs an hour later. Music was blaring from a wireless and there were already several bodies swaying on the dancefloor. He swiped himself a Butterbeer from one of the tables and glanced around to look for the only person he really wanted to see.

It took James a while to find Lily, and when he did he realised what had taken him so long. She was stood at the other end of the room talking to her fellow sixth year girls Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Medowes. Dorcas passed her a glass of offensively orange punch before waving at the two of them and wandering in the direction of the dancefloor.

He had to check himself when he glanced at Lily. Her red hair was straight and silky and she'd dragged one side up to expose her face. She wore shimmery glitter around her eyes and her lips were painted a vibrant red. That wasn't the most interesting thing about her features however; she wore a pair of leather pants that practically moulded to her figure and a cropped black shirt that exposed her midriff and laced up across her chest.

James almost swallowed his tongue.

He didn't recall walking across the room until he was stood right next to her.

"Hey Potter" Marlene said from next to him, "Great party!"

James nodded but didn't take his eyes from Lily.

"You okay, Potter?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah" was all he could manage.

Marlene raised her eyebrows at Lily before saying, "I'm going to find Black" throwing her friend a wink and disappearing into the crowd.

When James continued to stare at her Lily cleared her throat and said, "Are you drunk already, Potter?"

"You look amazing" he burst out.

"Oh" she said, blushing crimson. "Thanks but it was mostly Marlene, isn't her outfit outrageous?"

"I have no idea what Marlene is wearing."

Lily frowned and looked at him curiously, "She was just here."

"I was distracted" he defended himself.

Lily glanced around as though she was looking for his distraction before she turned to him again, "Have you taken a blow to the head, Potter?" she asked.

"Look Lily, I'll make it really simple for you" he said slowly, "Stood next to you, Marlene could have been wearing a skinned Hippogriff, I wouldn't have noticed."

"Oh" she said again, before blushing bright red.

"So how about I take that" he suggested, plucking the bright orange drink from her hand and placing it on one of the shelves behind her. "And we'll go and get you something safer to drink."

"I've had Sirius' punch before" she defended as he laced his arm around her waist and pulled her over to the drinks table.

"I remember" said James, reaching for a Butterbeer and passing it to her. "You ended up dancing on the tables before Sirius pulled you down, then you insisted he let you sleep in his bed and he ended up sleeping in mine."

Lily winced at the memory, "I had a hell of a hangover that day, I kept making Sirius bring me things to his bed."

James laughed, "Exactly" he said, clinking his bottle against hers, "Now drink your Butterbeer and let's enjoy ourselves."

Lily snorted into her bottle, "James Potter the voice of reason" she said, shaking her head, "I never thought I'd see the day."

Before James could comment they were interrupted by Sirius, he had swept his hair off his face and he was wearing an elaborate black cape with a huge collar. Considering how much he'd lectured Mary about not dressing up on Halloween, he didn't half look the part.

"Have you seen, Evans?" he demanded, "I need to talk to her."

"Um, Sirius" Lily's voice came from beside him and she waved one of her hands in front of Sirius' face. "I'm right here."

Sirius did a double take when he looked at her and his eyes bulged so far out of their sockets it was almost comical, "Holy Merlin and Agrippa!" He yelled, making both James and Lily jump. "Lily you can't walk around like that!" He insisted, before throwing his cloak around her and pulling her against him so she was completely covered.

"Get off me, you great lump" she joked, pretending to swat him as she laughed. "Marlene is wearing a considerable amount less than I am."

"That's because McKinnon is trying to allure me into snogging her" said Sirius, "It won't work."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Well maybe I'm trying to allure someone into snogging me."

"Who!?" Sirius and James demanded at the same time, both looking scandalised.

"No one, you pair of prats!" she said, shoving out of Sirius' embrace and marching past them both towards the refreshment table.

They both watched her as she left. "Damn, I forgot how fit she was" Sirius said, shaking his head, "Look at her arse!"

"Oi!" James exclaimed, clipping his friend across the top of his head.

Sirius shot him a glare before saying, "Bet she gets at least four propositions tonight."

James turned back to where Lily was standing, the keeper of the Quidditch team Davey Gudgeon had made his way over to her and she was laughing at something he had said.

"Six" James countered.

"Two galleons?" Sirius suggested.

"You're on" they shook hands right before James took off to rescue Lily from the seventh year. On any other day James liked Davey very much and thought he was an excellent Keeper, but not on days when he glanced down Lily's top as he was talking to her.

Despite James' best efforts to steer her away from male attention Lily Evans was the life and soul of the party. She sang the loudest to her favourite songs and danced until her feet ached on the rug by the fire. She had a competition with Remus over who could drink a bottle of Butterbeer the fastest and stole sips of Sirius' punch when she knew James wasn't looking. She laughed at all of his jokes, even the ones that weren't funny and teased Sirius for tongue kissing a fourth year in the middle of the room.

By the end of the night she had been propositioned seven times, once by Peter who didn't seem to realise who she was until James had appeared at her side and glared at him.

James had won his two Galleons but at the end of the night when he was sat at the other end of the sofa from Lily Evans as she mumbled incoherently and told him what a fantastic night she'd had, he felt as though he'd won a lot more.


	9. Chapter 9

_Thank you to everyone that has reviewed my story so far, you've made me ridiculously happy! I'm so glad you all like it, happy reading!_

 _Disclaimer: I only own Harry Potter in my head_

 **Chapter 9**

The morning of the first Hogsmeade visit dawned bright and cold on the castle, the first layer of snow had fallen and Sirius had spent most of the morning complaining that they wouldn't be able to stage an epic snowball fight on the grounds. Winter was Sirius' favourite time of year, mostly because he had the opportunity to pelt unsuspecting people with cold lumps of ice.

"We can have a snowball fight when we get back" Remus placated him as the four Marauders walked to breakfast that morning.

"All the little first year brats will have used all the good snow by then" Sirius complained, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning at passers-by as if they had done him a personal insult.

James rolled his eyes but decided not to comment, trying to argue with Sirius was like trying to force water to flow uphill. He didn't feel like dealing with the hassle, and he was experiencing some nerves of his own. He had decided to ask Daisy Hookum, a pretty fifth year Hufflepuff with red hair and brown eyes, to accompany him to village.

He hadn't really wanted to, but he'd always thought Daisy was pretty and when she'd walked past him one morning it had just slipped out. He thought she had gone into shock at first, never in the history of Hogwarts had James Potter asked anyone but Lily Evans on a date to the village.

But Lily Evans had told him she just wanted to be friends, and everything seemed to be going well so he didn't want to rock the boat. He just thought that if there was any way he could show her he was serious about it, it would be with a date.

He might even enjoy himself.

"You never told me who you decided to go with in the end, Sirius" James commented, thoughts of his own date bringing him to wonder about Sirius'. "Did Felicity win out?"

Sirius Black was renowned for being the best looking boy at Hogwarts. Everyone knew it and no one even bothered to deny it anymore. He wasn't just good looking, with the perfectly swept hair and the easy smile, but he was charming and charismatic. All those things together created the killer cocktail that was Sirius Black and no girl in a twenty mile radius stood a chance.

So that phenomenon was the reason Sirius had managed to land himself three dates to the Hogsmeade trip that weekend. Not that James was surprised; Sirius always had a date to the village and to his knowledge, had never asked a girl to go with him.

A very bold fourth year Hufflepuff girl with pretty blue eyes had asked him at break last week, and as far as James could tell Sirius had let her down as gently as possible. That hadn't stopped her from bursting into tears and disappearing into the girls toilets just after.

It had vastly improved as the week went on. Marlene McKinnon had asked him to go with her after Charms on Monday afternoon. Marlene was considered to be the most beautiful girl in their year. She was tall, with long tanned legs and tons of soft, brunette hair. Her eyes were huge and brown and she had a beautiful smile that crinkled her eyes and nose. James admitted that she was pretty, in a conventional sort of way, but nowhere near as beautiful as Lily Evans. Sirius hadn't answered; he'd only told her he'd think about it.

James figured he would have said yes, if it hadn't been for Felicity Jones.

Felicity was a seventh year Ravenclaw who also happened to be Head Girl. James wasn't even going to pretend she wasn't the most beautiful girl he'd ever laid eyes on. She had long, curly blonde hair and huge aquamarine eyes, her lips were pouty and Peter had told them more than once that he was sure she had to be part Veela. She was perfect, all five foot seven inches of her, right down to her perfectly pedicured toenails.

James was sure if there was any girl Sirius wouldn't be able to say to no to, it would be Felicity Jones.

"Well as you brought it up, would you mind if I spoke to you about that?" Sirius asked, throwing a shifty look at Remus before stopping just outside the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Sure" James said, raising his eyebrows as Remus and Peter walked into the Great Hall without them.

"I'm not going to Hogsmeade with a date" Sirius said quickly.

"W-What?" James stuttered, he was sure he had to have heard wrong. Sirius Black was passing up an opportunity to brag about getting a date with the most beautiful girl in the school. Sirius Black was going to Hogsmeade without a date. This was unheard of. The world had to have flipped on its axis; it was the only explanation for everyone's strange behaviour.

"You said no to Felicity?" he clarified.

Sirius shrugged, "She only asked me to go with her as her end of year dare."

"How do you know that?"

"Her best mate Jenny Hastings told me" Sirius shoved one shoulder against the wall, "We were snogging in a broom closet the night before last."

"Classy" James snorted, "She could just be jealous."

"I don't care" Sirius said simply, "I already told Lily I'd go with her."

"You're going with Evans?" James demanded.

"Well, Lily and Moony" Sirius explained a little defensively, "I didn't want her to have to go by herself, not after Peter asked Mary and Marlene agreed to go with Benjy."

"So you and Moony decided to come to her rescue" James mocked, he tried his best to keep the bitterness out of his tone but couldn't help it. He'd been asking Lily to go to Hogsmeade with him for two years and she'd never once said yes.

"I thought you'd be happy!" Sirius exploded, scaring three skittish looking second year girls on their way into the Great Hall. "You could have asked her if you wanted to, but you asked that Hookham girl instead."

"Lily keeps telling me she wants to be friends" James pointed out, "And you keep telling me to give her some space."

"Just don't get mad at me for asking her!" Sirius defended himself, "Marlene takes herself too seriously, and Felicity only wants to go with me because we'll look good together." Sirius let out an irritated sigh and shoved his fingers through his unkempt hair, "She's better company than both of them and you know we're only friends."

"I know" James agreed, taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. "I'm sorry, I get a little defensive when it comes to Evans."

"Prongs, you're my best friend" Sirius pointed out, shoving his arm as they both moved into the Great Hall together, "I know exactly how you get about Lily Evans."

James didn't reply to this as they moved down the Gryffindor table together. He knew he drove his friends crazy when it came to his feelings about Lily, but he thought he'd been better at controlling himself recently. They'd been getting along so well and he didn't want to ruin it by making her feel uncomfortable.

James spotted Remus and Peter sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table, and noticed that they were not alone. Both Lily and Mary had joined them, Lily was laughing at something Remus had said while Mary and Peter were talking quietly together.

Lily had pushed Peter to ask Mary to accompany him to Hogsmeade last week, and she had shocked all of them by saying yes. James had to guess that Lily had talked her friend into it, he liked Peter a lot but he wasn't exactly gifted when it came to talking to girls. He had to marvel again at Lily's inexhaustible kindness, and that she always managed to think of others before herself.

"Looking forward to your date, Pete?" Sirius asked loudly, effectively announcing their arrival as he took the seat beside Lily.

Peter blushed beetroot and Mary cut him a glare, "Shut it, Black" she hissed.

"What's wrong, McDonald?" Sirius asked, grinning as he helped himself to a couple of sausages. "Afraid he doesn't know how to treat a lady?"

"Shall we go, Mary?" Peter asked quietly.

Mary nodded but turned to throw Sirius one last scowl before they departed together.

James rolled his eyes as he took Peter's empty seat, "You can be a prat when you want to be, Padfoot" he said, helping himself to some toast.

"He's right, Sirius" Lily said, shaking her head. "You're so insensitive."

"Go on, Ginge" he said, ignoring her comment and turning to grin at her. "How'd you convince Mary to say yes?"

Lily blushed pink and mumbled something into her toast.

"Sorry?"

Lily sighed, "I told her I'd do her Charms homework for a month."

"You didn't!" Remus gasped, looking scandalised.

"Peter is really nice; I just wanted her to give him a chance!" Lily defending, pulling on the arms of her bright blue sweater, "You won't tell him, will you?"

Sirius shook his head as he turned back to his breakfast, "Never!" he swore, holding his hand against his chest. "Then we'd have to admit to Peter that he was the first ever Marauder to get Lily Evans to break a school rule."

Lily rolled her eyes but smiled as she turned to look at James, "I heard you have date aswell, Potter" she said grinning and pulling a face, "Poor girl."

"I'll have you know some girls are falling over themselves to go on a date with me" James grinned, ruffling the back of his hair.

"Really?" Lily asked, glancing around the Great Hall as if she was looking for someone. "Where?"

Sirius and Remus both burst out laughing and James stuck his tongue out at her. He was still struggling to get used to this new Lily Evans. Of course he had seen her tease Sirius and Remus countless times, and he knew there was absolutely no malice in her words; he just wasn't used to her playfulness being directed at him.

He quite liked it.

"Be nice, Lily" Remus joked from beside her, "Prongs is a little nervous."

"Aw, I'm sorry" Lily grinned, her eyes big and green. "You look lovely, I'm sure she'll have the time of her life."

"Thanks" James muttered, trying to hide the blush round his neck by busying himself with his toast.

"Shall we go anyway?" Sirius suggested, standing up and holding out his hand to help Lily up from her seat. "I want to get to Zonkos before all the wretched third years nick all the good stuff."

"I'll come with you" James said, standing up. "I told Daisy I'd meet her in the Entrance Hall."

James fell in step with Lily as they followed Remus and Sirius out of the great oak doors.

"So, what do you have planned for your date?" she asked him.

James shrugged, in all honesty he hadn't put much thought into it and he was regretting it now. He realised just how little he really knew about Daisy, and was beginning to wonder what they would talk about.

"I'm not really sure" he admitted.

"Well, if you're free around lunchtime me and the boys were going to pop into the Three Broomsticks" she smiled at him, "If you think Daisy can be subjected to Sirius and Remus together."

James laughed.

"Come on, Lil!" Sirius called from the doorway, he and Remus had both turned to see what was taking Lily so long.

"Have fun" Lily threw him one last parting grin before running across the Entrance Hall to catch up with the others.

James turned and spotted Daisy stood awkwardly at the other side of the Entrance Hall, she looked pretty in a pink floral jumper and her red hair was pulled up off her face. The problem was he just couldn't seem to get his mind off another red head that had just walked through the doors.

He removed all thoughts of Lily Evans as he made his way over to where Daisy was standing.

"Hi" she said shyly as soon as he reached her.

"Hello" he said cheerfully, "You look lovely."

"Thank you" she said, flushing crimson.

"Shall we go?" he asked, motioning towards the doors.

She nodded enthusiastically and they both set off into the snowy November grounds together. An awkward silence settled between the two of them and James found himself struggling to think of anything to say.

"So, how are you finding fifth year?" he asked in an attempt to break the silence, "O.W.L. year is pretty difficult."

"Oh yes" Daisy agreed, nodding mildly. "But I have to say, I'm finding muggle studies awfully fascinating."

"Really?" James said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yes" Daisy said, glancing up at him. "Don't you take it?"

"Yeah I do" said James, a little defensively. A lot of people assumed that because he was a pureblood he wouldn't be interested in Muggle Studies, probably because most wizards were ignorant to muggles. If he was being honest, he was a little ignorant, he'd only chosen Muggle Studies in third year in the hope it would help him to better understand Lily Evans.

Not that he would ever admit to that.

Only he had discovered that he did quite enjoy it. He wouldn't say it was exactly his favourite subject, but he didn't dread it like he dreaded Potions.

"Don't you think the whole concept of public services is amazing?" Daisy said, her eyes widening as they made their way into the village. "Could you imagine having to send a letter just to have a group of people come and put out a fire for you?"

"Well no" James agreed, "But they don't send letters, do they?"

"You're right!" Daisy agreed gleefully, "The whole concept of telephones baffles me."

James nodded in agreement and they spent the next few minutes discussing the possibilities is wizards had such contraptions. Of course he thought it was brilliant, being able to pick up the telephone must be a lot quicker than writing a letter. But then, he and Sirius had a pair of two way mirrors that they used to communicate with each other, and he guessed if a message was that urgent a wizard could always just apparate.

As they arrived into the village James looked around, Hogsmeade always looked the most beautiful in winter, with the snow covered roofs. He couldn't see many students milling around and he had to guess most had chosen the warmth of Honeydukes or the Three Broomsticks over the bitter wind outdoors.

"Where shall we go?" he asked Daisy, turning to see her pull her scarf up over her ears.

"She we go to Madame Puddifoot's?" she suggested, "We could get warm with some coffee."

He nodded in agreement and allowed her to lead him up one of the little side streets.

He had never been to Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop before, but he had heard a lot about it from Sirius who had more often than not been dragged inside on one of his various dates. From what Sirius said he gathered that the place was only enjoyable if your date was good enough to distract you from the various snogging couples and frilly decorations.

Daisy opened the door and as he stepped inside behind her a bell over the door tinkled to announce their arrival. The room was full of small, round tables decorated with lacy napkins and china sugar bowls and the shop was so cramped James had to wonder how anyone moved around without bumping into something. Daisy led him to a small corner by the window which was steamed up and most of the surrounding tables were taken up by other students holding hands and kissing over their mugs. He spotted Marlene McKinnon and Benjy Fenwick holding hands on the table behind them and was inwardly glad Sirius had decided not to come with her.

A waitress appeared at their table wearing a pink, frilly apron and her blonde hair scraped into a bun on top of her head, "What can I get you, dears?" she asked.

"Two coffees please" Daisy requested smiling, "Haven't you always wondered if muggle coffee tastes different to ours?" She asked James as the waitress disappeared to fetch their drinks.

"I'm sure some things are the same" James said firmly.

"Maybe, but it would be interesting to find out, wouldn't it?"

James hummed in agreement as the blonde haired waitress returned and placed two mugs of steaming coffee between them.

"I heard you tried out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team" said James, desperate to steer the conversation towards something other than muggles.

"Yes" Daisy agreed mildly, "I wanted to be seeker."

"It's a shame Dirk Cresswell got it" said James, thinking the exact opposite. Dirk Cresswell was a seventh year, he was really gifted at History of Magic but not so great at Quidditch. He'd only tried out for a dare and James had to wonder how he'd gotten onto the team. "I'm sure you would have been great."

Daisy shrugged, "Practice clashed with my Muggle Appreciation Society meetings" she said simply.

James took a drink of his coffee for something to do and cleared his throat, "Listen, I don't know what you have planned for later this afternoon, but Lily Evans invited us to the Three Broomsticks around lunchtime."

Daisy's eyebrows knitted together, "You agreed to meet with Lily Evans when you were supposed to be on a date with me?" she demanded.

"No!" James said defensively, "She said she'd be in there with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, do you know-"

"I might be a fifth year Hufflepuff, but I'm not blind James" Daisy said, rolling her eyes. "Everybody knows who the Marauders are."

"Right" James agreed, "Well they're my friends so you could meet them."

"I suppose" she agreed slowly.

"Plus, Lily is a muggleborn" James continued, trying to placate her. "You could ask her about what it's like to grow up as a muggle."

Her eyes lit up at this idea and they finished their coffee quickly before leaving a couple of sickles on the table and exiting the shop.

As they walked through the village together James wondered if he should reach out and hold her hand. He was trying desperately not to think of what he might do if he was here with Lily, but he just couldn't help himself. He was sure he'd reach out to take hold of her hand, he'd do silly things to make her laugh and make sure they went everywhere she wanted to go.

With Daisy everything seemed awkward and he was finding it difficult to keep up a constant stream of conversation about muggles. He wasn't sure if it was because he just didn't know her very well, or because he was too busy thinking about someone else.

After they'd stopped to buy Daisy a new quill and he'd graciously offered to pay for her bag of Pumpkin Fizz in Honeydukes Sweetshop they both agreed to make their way over to the Three Broomsticks.

"Do you think Lily will mind me asking her about muggles?" Daisy asked conversationally, popping a sweet into her mouth. "Some people in my house find it uncomfortable."

"I'm sure she won't" James said firmly, though now he thought about it he was beginning to worry. Lily's parents were a touchy subject with her and talking about that world was bound to set off some of her memories, he didn't want to upset her but he was just so desperate to get to the Three Broomsticks.

He had decided that trips to Hogsmeade with the other Marauders were so much more enjoyable than with dates.

He was saved at that moment by a girl with long brown hair sticking her head out of Gladrags Wizardwear and yelling, "Hey, Daisy!"

Daisy turned to look at the girl and smiled, "Hello Gemma" she said mildly before adding, "This is James Potter."

James opened his mouth to say hello before Gemma waved her hand impatiently, "Yeah, I know who he is" she said, rolling her eyes. "Katie is in here trying on dresses for her dads third wedding, she wants your opinion."

Daisy looked momentarily torn, "I'm on a date, Gemma" she pointed out.

"That's okay!" James interrupted, "You go and help your friend, and then you can all meet us in the Three Broomsticks, okay?"

Daisy looked like she wanted to argue but her friend interrupted, "Will Sirius Black be there?" she wanted to know.

James rolled his eyes, "Yeah" he sighed.

Gemma squealed gleefully before disappearing back into the shop. Daisy turned back to James, "I'm sorry about her."

"Not to worry" he said, smiling. "I'll see you later."

She nodded in agreement and watched him turn to head towards the Three Broomsticks before she followed her friend inside the shop. Inside he was elated and practically skipped towards the pub. Now he had the chance to spend some time alone with his friends, and warn Lily that she was possibly about to receive the grilling of her life.

Plus he wouldn't have to spend any more awkward alone time with Daisy.

He grinned as he opened the door to the pub. It didn't take him long to spot his friends, they were sat at a table in the far corner, easily making the most noise. Lily and Peter were both sat across from each other building separate pyramids out of decks of cards, their table was littered with half of Honeydukes Sweetshop and empty Butterbeer glasses. He made his way over to where Sirius and Remus were stood at a slight distance from the table.

"Alright, Potter!" Lily yelled, despite her obvious concentration on what she was building she was the first to spot him. "You're about to witness me take all of Peter's Choco-Loco away from him."

"That's where you are wrong, Evans" Peter retaliated, his tongue sticking out of his mouth in concentration. "That tower of yours is about to explode any minute."

They were obviously making card stacks out of decks of exploding snap cards. It wasn't that much different from a normal deck of cards, except the possibility of the pyramid exploding at any given moment without warning.

"Give it up, Wormtail" Sirius grinned, shaking his head. "She already conned me out of my chocolate cauldrons."

"And my big bar of Honeydukes finest chocolate" Remus put in, "Face it, she's a hustler."

"You lot are just jealous of my superior pyramid building skills" Lily said easily, adding another card to her already teetering pile.

"What is going on here?" James asked, raising his eyebrows.

"We got bored waiting so decided to have a little completion" Sirius said easily.

"It's a good job Lily only wanted chocolate or we'd all be skint" Remus said, laughing as Peter's card tower exploded in his face.

Lily crowed triumphantly as Peter turned to look at them all, his eyebrows slightly singed.

"You got any sweets you're willing to bet, Potter?" she asked, turning her green eyes on him.

"No thanks, Evans" he smiled as he sat at the stool next to her. "I like my eyebrows just the way they are."

"Wimp" she said, sticking out her tongue. "Is it my round?" she asked.

"No, it's mine!" Peter cut in before disappearing off to the bar.

"You've already had one too many" Remus said, pointing his finger disapprovingly at Lily as he took the seat beside her.

"Don't be such a fun sponge, Moony" Sirius said, pushing his hair out of his eyes and taking the final seat at the table.

"Where's Mary?" James asked.

Sirius pulled a face, "She told him she had Potions homework to catch up on and went back to the castle."

"She is really behind" Lily defended, "But I'm not doing her Charms homework for her now."

"Just don't mention it, yeah?" Remus said quietly, "He seemed really upset when he arrived."

"That's why I suggested the game" Lily sighed, "I thought it might cheer him up."

"I think it worked Evans" Sirius grinned, "I haven't seen him so giddy for ages."

"I feel so guilty" Lily confessed, pulling on her hair distractedly. "It's all my fault for meddling."

None of them had the chance to contradict her because Peter arrived back at their table with the drinks. He passed Lily the first glass and smiled at her, when she smiled back a faint blush covered his face and James couldn't help but think that Lily had gained another admirer.

Lily Evans had every single one of the infamous Marauders wrapped around her little finger.

"Where's your date, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"She just bumped into some friends outside Gladrags but she said she'd meet me here" he answered, taking a drink. "I feel like should warn you."

Lily raised her eyebrows when he looked at her, "She's not jealous, is she?"

James laughed, "No" he said, "She's just obsessed with muggles, I think I've set you up for a big fall."

"Oh" Lily said, her brow furrowed.

"That's a bit insensitive, Prongs" Remus chastised.

"No, it's okay!" Lily cut in.

"Well her friend fancies you, Padfoot" James said, turning away from Lily to face his friend.

Sirius shrugged and seemed unconcerned by this; he was probably too used to being told this to be bothered by it now. He shifted his stool unconsciously closer to Lily's and she subtly shook her head and grinned at him when he lowered his eyebrows.

James wondered when they had started communicating without speaking.

"What are you two-" he started.

"Hey Prongs, is that her?" Peter interrupted, gesturing towards the door.

James turned to see Daisy stood in the doorway; she was flanked by her two friends. One was Gemma, the pushy brunette wearing a leather jacket and searching around the tables, obviously looking for them. Her other friend had shocking black hair contrasted against her pale skin, her eyes were electric blue and she wore a floaty blue shirt, James guessed that had to be Katie.

He raised his hand to wave them over, "Everyone" he turned to face the table, "This is Daisy and her friends Gemma and Katie."

The girls all smiled and looked a little awkward, "Would you like a drink?" he asked.

They all nodded and he disappeared to get three more Butterbeers, by the time he returned Daisy had taken his seat beside Lily, Gemma was at Sirius' other side and Katie was sat beside Peter. He passed the Butterbeer out as Daisy chattered none stop.

"So what do televisions actually do?" she was asking, "And where does you ticket go when the machine swallows in at the train station? And what exactly is the function of a Piggybank?"

Lily looked a little overwhelmed as she opened her mouth to answer, "Well-"

"No one actually cares about that, Daisy" her friend Gemma interrupted, rolling her eyes. "What I really want to know is what's so special about Daisy that she managed to get a date with you over Lily Evans?"

There was an awkward pause in which Sirius said rudely, "I came with Lily."

"Oh" Gemma looked a little shocked, "Really?"

"Do you have a problem with that?" Lily asked, looking a little offended.

"Well no offense, honey" she said patronisingly, waving her shocking pink nails across the table. "But you're not exactly his type."

"What is my type then?" Sirius asked loudly, "As you know me so well."

"Sirius" Remus chastised.

"Well, you know" Gemma said, suddenly looking uncomfortable and throwing her friends a glance. Daisy was staring resolutely at her drink and was feigning deafness, while Katie had started up a separate conversation with Peter. "You like pretty girls" she said simply, "And you are a pureblood so…"

"He shouldn't be with a mudblood like me" Lily said harshly, her eyes were hard as stones as she glared down at the table.

"Don't you dare call yourself that" James said, reaching out to take hold of her arm. She pulled it from under him before he had the chance to touch her.

"I'm not trying to hurt your feelings" Gemma said quietly, "That's just the way things are."

"Well as I'm so unworthy, I suppose I should leave you all alone" she whispered, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. She pulled her bag from under the table and disappeared before anyone could try to stop her.

"Gemma!" Daisy admonished, "Why do you always have to be so cruel?"

"What?" Gemma defended herself, suddenly looking haughty. "Sirius is from one of the oldest wizarding families around."

"Yeah I am" Sirius agreed quietly, standing up slowly and fixing Gemma with a burning stare that had even James flinching away from him. "And I'd rather be with Lily Evans than any of you, she'd kind, funny and considerate and no matter what family she comes from, she's worth ten of you."

With that Sirius turned and stormed from the pub, leaving three stunned girls in his wake and James to clear up the mess.

He didn't arrange to meet up with Daisy again and walked back up to the castle with Remus and Peter. There was no sign of Sirius or Lily when they returned to the common room and Sirius still hadn't returned to the room until long after James had fallen asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: Nothing here is owned by me._

 **Chapter 10**

James was woken early the next morning by a yell of "SNOW!" before a huge lump hurled itself on top of him and he woke with a loud "Ooft" as Sirius landed on his stomach.

"It's snowing, Prongs!" Sirius said excitedly, burrowing himself under the duvet to ensure James didn't have the chance to fall back asleep, "Today is the day of the snowball fight."

"Sirius, it's barely eight in the morning" he groaned, turning over.

"Don't even try, Prongs" Remus said, sounding thoroughly amused as he climbed onto James' bed to join them. "He's been knocking things over for the past ten minutes to try and wake you up."

"I wanted a lie in" Peter voiced, clambering up and squishing them all together.

"There are no lie ins when it's snowing" Sirius admonished, glaring at all of them. "We have no time to waste!"

"You can't have had more than three hours sleep" Remus commented, yawning hugely and stretching his arms above his head. "What time did you get in?"

"Not until two this morning" said Sirius darkly, "Took me forever to get Lily to stop crying."

"Damn Evans is having a rough time at the minute" James sighed, "Is she okay?"

"I think so" Sirius shrugged, "I think it was a bit of a shock hearing those sorts of things from someone who isn't a Slytherin."

"That on top of everything is bound to upset her" Peter agreed.

"Well, she probably reacted badly to the comments about not being worthy enough to date a pureblood" Remus added.

"Which is just stupid" Peter put in.

Sirius shrugged, "It's always been that way" he said casually, "My favourite cousin Andromeda got blasted off the family tree for marrying a muggleborn."

"It's just prejudice nonsense" Remus said, shaking his head and brushing his hair out of his eyes, "She should be allowed to marry whichever pureblood might take her fancy."

James eyebrows knitted together, "Which pureblood would Evans want to be with anyway?" he asked.

Remus threw Sirius a look before saying, "Oh Prongs, isn't it obvious?"

James felt the blood drain from his face as he looked between his three best friends, "Should it be?" he whispered.

Sirius grinned and rolled his eyes, "She likes _you_."

"Well yeah" James agreed slowly, "We're friends now."

Remus laughed, "Maybe he shouldn't be with Lily if he's this thick" he teased.

"Honestly mate" said Sirius, grinning widely now. "She spent most of yesterday looking around and sulking until you arrived."

"She smiles so much brighter when you walk into a room" Peter agreed.

"Nah, you're having me on" James said, allowing himself a small smile. "She said she just wants to be friends."

"Well putting that aside for the moment" Sirius continued in a sombre tone, "She was pretty upset, I don't think she's been sleeping much and with her parents and Snape, this on top of everything just finished her off."

"Was she okay when you left her?" Remus asked.

"I didn't want to leave her" Sirius said, folding his arms across his chest, "But she refused to come up here and sleep in my bed."

"I take it you won't be going out with Daisy again, Prongs?" Peter asked.

"It wasn't her fault really" Remus defended, "It was her friend."

"Even so, I don't think I'll ask her out again" said James, putting his arms up behind his head. "She's nice and everything, she'd just not Evans, you know?"

Sirius rolled his eyes as he climbed out of bed, "We know" he said, tossing a pillow at James. "Now get up."

With much grumbling James managed to finally wrench himself out of bed, and with the other two muttering under their breath about Sirius and his crazy obsession with snow they all pulled on woolly hats, scarves, gloves and several jumpers before heading out of their dormitory.

Sirius was already talking about the monstrous snowman he planned to build when they stopped down in the common room. James had spotted someone sat in one of the armchairs by the fire, it was early on a Sunday morning and he had expected the common room to be deserted. Yet he was somehow unsurprised to find Lily Evans bent over her homework and scribbling furiously.

"Alright Evans?" Sirius called when he saw her, making his way over to where she was sitting.

"Hello" she said, smiling up at them all with tired eyes. Her hair was a haystack piled on top of her head and her mascara from yesterday was smudged across her cheek, but James thought she still looked so beautiful.

"What are you doing up so early?" Remus asked, his eyebrows narrowing as he focused on the red circles around her eyes.

"I couldn't sleep" she shrugged, crossing through another sentence on her parchment. From what James could see the parchment appeared to be mostly covered in crossings out and ink splatters. "I thought I'd write this Charms essay for next week."

"You don't appear to be getting very far" James commented, taking a seat on the arm of her chair.

Lily scrunched the parchment into a ball and threw it into the fire, "I can't concentrate!" she moaned, scrubbing her face with her hands then leaning back to rest her head the back of the chair.

"Right, well you're coming with us" Sirius said, holding his hands out as though he expected her to reach out and take them.

Lily looked up at all of them and raised her eyebrows, "Where are you going, Antarctica?"

"No, silly" Sirius said, "We're going to have a snowball fight."

"Oh, of course" Lily laughed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry boys but I'm not really in the mood."

"Come on, Evans" James said, bumping his thigh against her shoulder. "It might take your mind off everything."

"Plus, its Sirius' birthday so you have to do what he says" Peter added.

"No!" Sirius shouted, "There will be no use of the B-word today!"

James rolled his eyes.

"Oh that reminds me" Lily said, making a move to get up, "I have your p-"

"NO!" Sirius shouted, holding his hand out to stop her. "There will be no mention of the P-word today."

It was universally known that Sirius Black hated his birthday. When they had first met James always thought it was odd that Sirius refused to tell them when his birthday was. Sirius loved to be the centre of attention; he was always making loud jokes and dramatic gestures that drew crowds. It was only logical that he would love a day that was all about him. It was only now that James knew him better he realised it wasn't about that, it was about his family. Sirius hated any reminders of his childhood or anything to do with the house he grew up in, so birthday's had to be right up there on that list.

It wasn't until his younger brother Regulus had started attending Hogwarts in their third year that James, Remus and Peter had finally managed to find out when his birthday was and throw him a small celebration. Then Lily had bribed Remus with chocolate in fourth year and she had also been let in on the sacred date.

Sirius had sworn them all to secrecy, on pain of losing his friendship forever. They were not allowed to mention his birthday, nor buy him any presents or make any kind of fuss.

They all flamboyantly disregarded these rules every year.

Lily laughed, "Come on, you're seventeen!" she chided, "You can't expect us to ignore that milestone, can you?"

"Tell you what Ginge, I'll make you a deal" Sirius said, staring her down with his black eyes. "You come and join in on the fun in the snow, and I'll let you mention the B-word." He pretended to think for a second, "If you help me with my snowman I might even let you give me my P-word later."

Lily laughed, "Alright" she said, shaking her head at his absurdity, "Let me go and put something warm on, I'll catch up with you."

"What about my P-word?" James demanded as they made their way over towards the portrait hole together, "I had to lock you in a room with me last year just to get you to unwrap it."

"Yeah, you ungrateful git" Remus said at the portrait swung open and they all stepped out. "Why does Lily get to give you hers?"

"Listen mate, the day you get legs like Lily Evans is the day I'll give you whatever you want" Sirius teased, grinning as they all stepped out into the corridor.

That comment gained him a glare from Remus and a smack upside the head from James.

They all stopped at the end of the corridor when they realised Peter was no longer with them, "Hey Wormtail!" James called, spotting him still stood in the entrance to the portrait hole. "Are you coming or not?"

"I think you should all see this!" Peter called.

"What is it?" Sirius asked curiously as they all moved back towards where Peter was standing.

As they got closer James could see what they had missed, the Fat Lady appeared to be missing from the portrait. He stepped beside Peter to see the reason why, and saw ugly red graffiti scrawled across the portrait. _House of Blood Traitors and Mudbloods_ was scrawled in huge, angry red letters across where the Fat Lady usually stood in her portrait.

Sirius swore loudly, "Damn Slytherins!"

"How did they even do this?" James demanded, looking at little closer at the now empty portrait. "It looks like some seriously advanced magic."

"It must be if they could get rid of the Fat Lady" Peter agreed.

"Do you think you could remove it, James?" Remus asked.

"With the Fat Lady missing I don't want to do anything that might make things worse" he said quietly.

"Forget removing it" Sirius burst out, "I say we go down to their common room and show them exactly who they're dealing with."

"We don't even know it was a Slytherin" Remus reasoned.

"Don't be thick Moony, who else could it have been?" Sirius snapped.

"Shut up a minute, Padfoot" James hissed, "I'm trying to think."

"What do we do, Prongs?" Peter asked, looking a bit lost.

"You and Moony go back inside and stop anyone from coming out" he said quietly, "I don't want Evans to see this."

"What are you going to do?" Remus asked.

James turned to look at Sirius, "We're going to speak to Dumbledore."

He didn't wait for his friends to respond or argue, just turned on his heel and marched back along the corridor again.

Sirius was right on his heels and quietly seething under his breath.

"This is our fault, you know" James said quietly.

Sirius' head snapped to look at him, "How'd you make that out?" he demanded.

"That stupid prank we played on the Slytherin's" James silently cursed himself.

"Prongs, that was just a laugh."

"It was poking the angry dragon with a big stick" he said, his voice slowly growing louder as they moved through the empty corridors. "You'd be angry too if someone made you declare your belief in blood purity to the entire school."

"That prank was harmless" Sirius said firmly, "It's not our fault they're all gits."

"But we've made it worse!" James burst out.

Sirius reached out to take hold of his shoulders and forced him to stop, "James, what is this really about?"

"The attack on Mary last year!" he growled, trying desperately to get his breathing under control.

"What about it?"

"What if it gets worse?" He said, his voice quietening as his fear boiled to the surface, "What if they come after people because of us?" He took a deep breath before voicing his greatest fear, "What if they come after Evans?"

"We'll protect her" Sirius said firmly.

"What if we can't?" he said, his voice so quiet he was surprised Sirius could still hear him.

"Then they should be the ones running scared" Sirius reasoned, "I've been on the receiving end of one of her jinxes and it isn't fun."

James let out a short, shaky laugh.

"Now come on" Sirius shoved his shoulder before turning to face the Gargoyle at the entrance to Dumbledore's office. "The password was French Fancies the last time I was here."

As the Gargoyle leapt aside to allow them entrance to the circular, stone staircase Sirius turned back to grin at James, "I guess it still is" he said, before hoping on the stairs.

James followed suit and they both moved up towards the entrance to the Headmaster's office.

Sirius reached out to knock softly on the door and they both heard a voice call "Enter."

James slowly moved into the large circular room and looked around, this wasn't the first time he had ever been in the Headmaster's office but it was one of the first times he wasn't here because of something he'd done. He glanced around the walls of all the portraits of former Headmasters and Headmistresses snoozing in their frames before spotting Professor Dumbledore sitting behind his desk.

"Good morning, boys" he said pleasantly, waving a hand at the two seats across from him as an indication that they should sit. His long, silver beard gleamed in the light of the fire as he surveyed them over his half-moon spectacles. "This is rather early for a social call."

"We have something to tell you, Professor" said Sirius.

"As I gathered" Dumbledore said, nodding as he laced his fingers together and glanced at them with his blue eyes. "Please go on."

Sirius glanced at James who said, "When we were coming out of the common room this morning we noticed the Fat Lady wasn't in her portrait."

"It looks like someone has vandalised it, Professor" Sirius continued, "It has _House of Bloodtraitors and Mudbloods_ scrawled across it in big red letters."

Dumbledore seemed to consider them for a moment longer before whipping out his wand and murmuring an incantation, three silver Phoenixes appeared from the tip and streaked off in different directions.

"I have informed the teachers and Mr Flitch of what has happened" he told them quietly as he put his wand away again, "If you could stay here for a moment I would very much like the opportunity to speak with the two of you."

James and Sirius both glanced at each other with eyebrows raised before turning back to face their Headmaster.

"I am sure you have both realised that the prejudice in this school slowly grows under the shadow of Lord Voldemort's rise to power."

James had never heard anyone use his name before and couldn't help but stare in awe at his Professor.

"Don't think that I have not noticed your bravery at standing up to such people, your little prank at the Slytherin table was not only an act of brilliance but one of defiance" Dumbledore said quietly, "As you are both Purebloods from well respected families, I cannot tell you how it brightens me to see you standing up for those who need defending.

This is why I have asked you to listen to an old man's ramblings today, because I am in the process of forming a society in which I think you will both be interested."

Sirius appeared dumbfounded, "A society, Professor?" he asked quietly.

Dumbledore nodded, "Named the Order of the Phoenix" he said, "It was founded by me, and though we only have a few members, we aim to grow through the common aim of overthrowing Voldermort and his regime."

"Where do we sign up?" James demanded.

Dumbledore smiled, "I am afraid the Order only consists of members who have left school" he said softly, "But if you, and your friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, are still interested when you do, then I will be glad to welcome you."

"We want to fight now!" Sirius argued.

"Of course I understand, it is hard to sit by watching your friends suffer and do nothing" Dumbledore nodded sadly, "But the best you can do now is watch over them, I am afraid the castle walls are no longer safe enough to keep out all evil."

James eyes were locked with Dumbledore's X-ray blue ones, and he couldn't help but wonder if the Professor knew of his worries for Lily.

"But for now I believe Mr Black has some birthday celebrations to get to" he said, smiling at them as he shooed them away. "Think over what I have said and try not to be too troubled, we will catch the culprit of these attacks."

Taking that as their farewell they both thanked the Professor and bid him goodbye before leaving the office and walking back down the stone staircase.

"Did you hear that, Prongs?" Sirius hissed as they reached the corridor, "We're going to fight!"

"Are you sure that's what you want?" James asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Sirius glanced up at him with raised eyebrows.

"We both know the reason you left home is because your family have the same views as all the other blood purists here" James pointed out, "They say your cousin Bellatrix and her husband are at _his_ right hand."

"Ah, Bella was always crazy" Sirius grinned, shaking his head. "Plus, dear old mum has already blasted me off the family tree, what more can she do?"

James shrugged.

"Won't you fight?" Sirius asked quietly.

"Of course I will!" James defended, "I'm just worried about my mum, she won't be happy when she hears, especially after what happened to dad."

"She'll be proud of you for standing up for what you believe in" Sirius said.

James nodded and they didn't say anything else as they reached the corridor with the portrait of the Fat Lady. She had been returned and the writing had been removed, so they were able to enter the common room without any trouble.

There were several students milling around but James could not spot Remus or Peter, so he pulled on Sirius' arm to lead them both up the stairs to their dormitory.

As they pushed the door open it was to find the other two Marauders and Lily Evans stood around a three legged wobbly stool on top of which sat a two tier chocolate cake with the words 'Happy birthday Snuffles!' piped untidily on top in bright orange icing.

"Happy Birthday Padfoot!" they all yelled together when they spotted him enter the room behind James.

Sirius seemed to have gone into shock as he stared stock still at the cake, "What…" he dithered, "Who?"

Lily bit her lip, "I snuck down to the kitchens last night after you went to bed" she admitted quietly, awkwardly rubbing her arms. "I did have some help from the House Elves so it should at least be edible."

She let out a short laugh but pressed her lips together when Sirius didn't reply.

Although he didn't say anything James could see emotion burning deep in the pit of his black eyes as he stared at the cake. Slowly Sirius looked up at Lily and James wondered if he was going to snap at her for ignoring his request about no fuss for his birthday.

Instead he reached out and pulled her into a bone crunching hug that stole the breath from her lungs.

They never did manage to conduct their snowball fight that day, instead they sat up in the dormitory eating chocolate cake and laughing at each other's jokes. For a moment James forgot about the war, he forgot about blood prejudice and the fight happening outside the castle walls.

All he could think about was the four people in this room, and how being with them made him happier than anything else ever could.


	11. Chapter 11

_Thank you to everyone that has reviewed my story so far, you're all brilliant! I'm sorry this is only a short chapter, I'm just trying to give everyone an idea of where Lily's frame of mind is._

 _Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing._

 **Chapter Eleven**

James didn't see much of Lily over the next couple of days. Although Sirius assured him not to take it personally, and Remus told him time and time again that she was just a little distracted lately, worried about the recent attacks on muggleborns, he couldn't help but be a little hurt.

It seemed to him as though she was avoiding him.

At first he hadn't thought anything of it because she had been unusually quiet over the last couple of days. That was until he spotted her laughing with Sirius in the courtyard one break time, only to cease the laughter the moment he walked over. Then when he had found her doing Transfiguration homework in the library with Remus, even though he was supposed to be her partner.

She'd even scheduled her perfect rounds with Benjy Fenwick on the evening of the full moon, which just wasn't like Lily at all.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that Lily wasn't around to give Remus a hug?" he whispered to Sirius as the two of them and Peter all squeezed under the invisibility cloak together.

It was almost like a tradition for Lily to be there before Remus was taken away for his monthly transformations. She liked to give him a hug, the squeeze of a hand or even just a reassuring smile to let him know he wasn't alone.

But tonight she wasn't here, and James couldn't help but feel it had something to do with him.

"Oh give it a rest, Prongs" Sirius said irritably, shoving him lightly as the three of them made their way towards the portrait hole. "Your constant updates on Lily Evans are starting to drive me mad."

"I just think it's weird" James defended.

"Maybe she just arranged to see Benjy" Peter said from behind them, "She did say he was the best looking boy in this school."

James' whipped around with what he was sure was a murderous glare in his eye as he heard Sirius groan from behind him, "Nice one, Wormtail" he complained, "Now he's going to be obsessing over that for the next two months."

"Do you think she fancies Fenwick?" he demanded, rounding on Sirius.

"I don't pretend to understand the way a girl's brain works, Prongs" he said in a bemused sort of way, "Now can we go, Moony will be wondering where we are."

Just as they all turned to move towards the exit the Portrait Hole swung open and the very object of James' affections stepped through. She was laughing, and the reason why became apparent as James spotted Benjy Fenwick stood just beyond the entrance.

"You really didn't have to walk me all the way back to my dormitory, Benjy" Lily said breathlessly, smiling at him like he was the best thing since sliced bread.

"Trust me Lil, if I hadn't seen you safely back here I never would have slept tonight."

"Stupid, smooth talking Ravenclaw" James muttered and Sirius elbowed him in the ribs.

"Well it was really nice of you" she said, "And thanks again for covering Remus' patrol, I know he'll really appreciate it."

"Any time I get to spend with you Lily, is just a bonus" he winked at her.

James huffed and Peter had to physically restrain him to stop him from diving out from under the invisibility cloak and tackling the slimy git.

Lily just smiled, "I should get to bed" she said, "Thanks again, Benjy."

"Anytime, Lily" he said, smiling.

She turned her back as the Portrait Hole closed and made her way to the girls dormitory, narrowly avoiding a collision as Sirius was only just quick enough to get out of the way. It wasn't until after they'd heard her dormitory door close and James was silently fuming did Sirius turn to him and say, "Come on Prongs, if we hurry we can catch him and push him down the stairs."

But the thought of causing bodily harm to Lily's suitor wasn't even enough to cheer him up, and he was still brooding about it the next day. Because the truth was, that even if Lily didn't want to date Benjy, one day she was going to want to date someone.

That someone was never going to be James.

It was that thought that depressed him the most.

He was glad in a way that tonight happened to be the night he could sneak out with his friends and spend the evening as a stag. His thoughts were almost less human in a way, and he could push the thought of Lily out of his mind as he and his friends explored the grounds together.

That didn't mean she wasn't waiting for him the moment he got back to his dormitory.

The next day felt like hell, his lack of sleep coupled with his thoughts of Lily with someone else were making him crazy and he just couldn't seem to concentrate on anything. He ignored Sirius all through breakfast, choosing instead to try and catch Lily's eye or see if there was anyone she way paying more attention to than normal. Lily simply ate her toast and chatted innocently with Mary, and James ended up with a face full of porridge from Sirius.

He accidentally summoned a bunch of lilies in Transfiguration that morning, rather than the small yellow canaries they were supposed to be summoning. Just after lunch he accidentally knocked his ink bottle all over Sirius' Arithmancy essay that was due that afternoon and he flew so badly in Quidditch practice that evening he almost ended up with two players in the hospital wing. He was entirely sure what had happened, just that he had drifted slightly on his broom and collided with Gwenog Jones who had been heading the opposite way.

By the end of the day he had annoyed Sirius so much his best friend had gone to bed out of sheer irritation, and while Peter tried to look sympathetic James knew he was just as annoyed as the others. He really needed to get Lily Evans out of his system, and with that thought in his head he left his two dormmates snoring in their beds and made his way out of the dormitory and down the cold, stone staircase.

He was just to restless to stay in one place, and he needed some air.

James stopped on the bottom step of the staircase when he heard voices coming from the common room, which he thought was a little strange given how late it was. He peered around the corner into the room and spotted two people curled up on one of the sofas together, they were sharing a patchwork blanket that covered both their shoulders and he could just make out a steaming mug of hot chocolate in the hands of a girl with long, red hair.

For one crazy moment he thought she had invited Benjy into the common room and was almost sick with jealousy. Until he realised that tonight was the night Remus had left the hospital wing, and as he hadn't appeared in their dormitory yet the only other place he could be was with Lily Evans.

It was moments like these that jealousy ate up his insides and he almost wanted to hate his best friends. In those moments when Lily opened up to Remus or laughed hysterically at Sirius' jokes, he couldn't help but feel a little crushed inside.

A part of him wanted to storm into the common room, to ruin their moment by forcing himself between them and demanding Lily notice him.

But that was something the old James would have done, so he contented himself by sitting down on the cold stone step and listening. Trying not to hear the niggling thought that reminded him this was the second time in less than twenty four hours he had been eavesdropping on Lily Evans.

"You feeling any better?" he heard Lily asked softly as she shuffled a bit closer to Remus and pulled the blanket tighter over the two of them.

"I'm just tired" Remus sighed, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. "Thanks for this though Lil, seriously."

"Come on Rem, you don't have to thank me" Lily said, shaking her head and brushing her hair out of her eyes. "It's what friends are for, right?"

"Right" Remus agreed, slowing lowering his mug away from him mouth. "It's just that… not many people want to be friends with a werewolf."

James felt his insides freeze.

He knew Remus had always had trouble opening up to people, and he knew he liked to distance himself from others because of his condition. But he never thought in a million years that person would be Lily. The two of them always seemed so close, and sometimes James had to wonder if Lily had even figured out Remus' condition before the boys had known.

The redhead just looked up at Remus with a sad smile and big green eyes, "Not everyone wants to be friends with a muggleborn either."

James was glad that Remus reached out to hold her then, because he would have been half way across the room doing the same thing if he hadn't.

"You shouldn't listen to them, Lily" he told her softly, running his fingers through her hair.

"Neither should you."

"I have you, and James, Sirius and Peter" he told her quietly, "I don't need anyone else."

"Maybe I do" she said softly, "Maybe I'm tired of being blamed for something I can't control."

"Come on Lil, we both know why you're upset."

"Do we?"

"James."

A spike of electricity zinged through him at the mention of his name. Suddenly he felt hyper aware of his heart beat and the noise he was making as he fidgeted. His ears pricked, as though he was afraid they would come round the corner and find him listening.

He couldn't bring himself to leave though, because he wanted nothing more than to listen to what Lily Evans had to say about him.

"What about James?" Lily replied.

"Don't pretend like you haven't been avoiding him recently" Remus chided softly, "I know those things the Hufflepuff girl said bother you."

"James is Pureblood" Lily pointed out.

"Yes he is" Remus agreed, "But do you really think he cares that you're not?"

"I know he doesn't care" she replied dismissively, "But his mother would, he is from an old wizarding family after all."

"His mum isn't like that."

"She might not be a Voldemort supporter Remus, but I'm sure she still wants her son to make a respectable Pureblood marriage." Lily sighed and swept her hair out of her face, "Or half-blood at least" she muttered, almost as an afterthought.

James was on the edge of his seat as Remus focused in on the only word he was interested in hearing more about.

"Is that your way of saying you're thinking of marrying James?" He asked, a smile leaking into his tone.

"What- no! I mean-" Lily stuttered.

"I do believe you're blushing, Miss Evans" Remus teased, reaching out to poke her between the ribs. "Don't tell me your heart is softening towards our dear old Prongs, he will be pleased."

"No Remus, you can't tell him!" Lily squealed, jumping over to tackle Remus.

As the remainder of the conversation was lost and the two of them began to wrestle, Lily's giggling filled the room and James stood quietly.

He turned and made his way back up to his dormitory, a small smile playing about his lips.

In that moment he didn't think he'd ever been less jealous of anyone.


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: Nothing here is owned by me._

 **Chapter Twelve**

The first weekend of December dawned bright and cold on the castle. It brought with it more snow, bitter winds and the reoccurrence of attacks on muggleborn students. Fortunately with the tightening of security and the preparedness of the staff no one had been physically hurt, but Milly Davies was telling everyone in the line to Defence Against the Dark Arts that both the entrances to the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw common rooms had been vandalised in a similar way to Gryffindor's.

James might have been reassured that they weren't in the fight alone, if he wasn't so angry about the whole thing.

It was hard to keep everyone spirits up with the threat of war looming over their heads, but with Christmas on the way James was more determined than ever to not let it get his spirits down.

It was first thing on a Saturday morning and James was utterly convinced Sirius was going to have them conducting a snow ball fight the minute he left the dormitory, so he had snuck out to visit the Owlery.

He had a letter to send to his mum and he didn't want the others to know about it yet.

He had a plan to set in motion that he wasn't ready to share. He was sure Sirius would scoff and Remus would look at him exasperatedly. So this had to be done alone and dealt with carefully for now, just until he was ready for the others to know about it.

He just thought he'd head down early to breakfast when he bumped into the last person he wanted to see.

Daisy Hookum

"Oh hello" she said, clearly as surprised as he was. Her red hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head and her brown eyes were wide as she looked up at him. She really was quite pretty, he conceded. "What are you doing up so early?" She asked.

"I was just sending a letter" he said, his arms motioning towards the Owlery. "You?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about going out into the snow before anyone else did" she paused for a moment, clearly looking quite embarrassed. "You could join me, if you like."

"That's a nice offer, but Sirius would probably skin me alive if I went into the snow with someone else."

His excuse sounded fake even in his own ears, and judging by the red tinting her cheeks she didn't believe him either.

"Listen James, I'm really sorry about all those things Gemma said during our date" she said, averting her eyes slightly. "I'm sure she didn't mean it, it's just she has a huge crush on Sirius and was probably a little jealous."

"Slagging off Sirius' mates isn't exactly a good way to get his attention" James pointed out, raising his eyebrows.

"I know it was stupid and petty, I can apologise to Lily if that would help."

"It's a little late for that now" James said, sounding more waspish than he meant to. "Plus, you don't have anything to apologise for."

"Sometimes Gemma just doesn't think before something comes out of her mouth."

"I have plenty of friends like that" James smiled, offering her his arm. "Can I walk you to breakfast?"

"Oh" she blushed a pretty pink but took his preferred arm, "I'd like that."

"So, how are things with Muggle Studies?" He asked, figured the best way to avoid awkward conversation was to talk about something he knew she was really interested in.

"Brilliant!" She said, smiling at him enthusiastically. "I'm writing an essay on how airplanes stay up, it's really fascinating."

"Sounds it" James muttered. "Listen Daisy, can I ask you a personal question?"

Daisy blushed again but nodded, "Of course."

"If you like muggles so much why are you friends with someone who so obviously hates them?"

"Gemma doesn't hate muggles!" Daisy defended immediately. "She just believes in the old ways, like her parents do."

"Sirius' parents believe in the old ways" James pointed out. "He's smart enough to make up his own mind."

"She's really a nice person, I promise!" Daisy pleaded, her eyes wide as she looked up at him. "That's just what she's been brought up to believe."

They're just reached the Entrance Hall and as they crossed towards the Great Hall another girl appeared around the corner that he didn't want to see while in his current situation.

Of course in any other situation he would be more than happy to see Lily Evans. In those form fitting jeans she favoured and a baggy woolly jumper she looked good enough to kiss until she was breathless.

"Hey Evans" he called across to her, because he just couldn't seem to help himself.

"Oh, hello Potter" she greeted, pausing in her walk towards the Great Hall before she turned her green eyes on his companion, "Daisy."

"Hi Lily" Daisy mumbled, her eyes downcast.

"You two are up early" she commented.

"We just met as I was coming out of the Owlery" James defended, "Daisy wanted to go out into the fresh snow."

"Sounds nice" Lily said, forcing a smile onto her face. "Well I'd better go and get some breakfast before Sirius hunts me down."

With that as a farewell she turned on her heel and marched into the Great Hall.

"Would you like to have breakfast with me, James?" Daisy asked, her face painted in a blush again.

"Oh, er" he stalled for a moment. "I'd like to but I really need to talk to Evans, she's my partner in Potions and I'm really struggling with my essay that's due Monday."

"Oh, okay" Daisy agreed, sounding clearly disappointed. "Some other time then?"

"Definitely" he agreed, smiling at her before turning and following Lily to the Gryffindor table.

He found her sat half way down the table by herself, stabbing into a sausage as though it had done her a personal insult.

"Alright, Evans?" He grinned, taking a seat next to her.

Lily looked up at him before her green eyes glanced around, "Where's your date?" She asked.

James frowned, "Daisy isn't my date" he said, "I told you we just met outside the Owlery."

Lily nodded slowly but didn't say anything as she turned back to her breakfast.

James sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "Look Lil, I know you've been avoiding me and I know it's because of Daisy's friend."

Lily's eyes tightened defensively as she looked at him, "Who told you that?"

"It's pretty obvious" he confessed, even though he didn't think anything was less obvious in his life. He really needed to talk to Remus about his understanding of the female species, because James clearly didn't have a clue.

"I don't care if you want to date her, Potter" she said dismissively, red colouring her cheeks and she flicked her hair over her shoulder. "I'm just not willing to hang out with her muggle hating friends."

"You so care" James said, grinning because he really couldn't help himself.

Lily's mouth fell open as she glared at him, "I do not!"

"If I didn't know any better I might say you were jealous" he grinned as her face coloured with that lovely pink blush he was getting so accustomed to.

"James Potter, I couldn't care less who you date" she told him haughtily.

"It's okay Lil" he said, reaching out to poke her between the ribs. "I promise not to tell anyone about your undying love for me."

Lily giggled as she batted his hands away, "You're so full of it, Potter."

"And you Evans, are so ticklish" he laughed as he pulled her closer to him to gain better access to his ribs.

"I am not!" She laughed, trying to escape his fingers.

"You're a terrible liar too" he was grinning from ear to ear now as Lily Evans laughed and squirmed next to him.

He wanted to stop time right then and there.

"Go on Evans, just admit you fancy me and I'll stop."

"That's not fair!" She complained, gasping for air as she tried to move away from him.

"Playing fair never works with you" he grinned, following her as she shuffled up the bench.

"Okay, stop I give in!" She said finally, before turning those big green eyes on him. "I really like you a lot, James."

His breath caught in his throat as he stared at her, their mouths were a breath apart. "I really like you a lot too" he whispered.

Their faces were so close he could count the freckles on the bridge of her nose.

The suddenly, she shoved the remainder of her porridge in his face. He was so shocked he didn't even register she was laughing so hard she almost fell off the bench.

"Your face!" She squealed with delight before bursting into another round of giggles.

"Oh you're going to pay for that, Evans" he said, unable to keep the smile off his face as he wiped the porridge off his cheeks.

Lily was laughing too hard to answer, but a voice from beside them interrupted. "What's so funny?" asked a very amused Remus as he took a seat at the bench across from them.

"Aw, you guys started throwing stuff without me!" Sirius complained, taking the seat beside Remus.

"Don't blame me" James said easily, pulling his wand out of his pocket to clean up the rest of the mess. "Evans is the one who started throwing things."

"How else was I meant to get your ugly mug out of my face" she teased, turning her eyes back to her breakfast.

"This isn't over, Evans" James warned.

"I agree!" Sirius put in, helping himself to copious amounts of bacon. "Let's continue this out in the snow, where the rest of us can join in."

"I'd love to boys, but I know you guys go in teams and I'd make you uneven" Lily said, trying not to smile or sound too happy with herself.

"That's okay Evans, you can go with Wormtail" James grinned, "He can do with all the help he can get."

"Just as long as I don't have to be on your team" she said, glaring at him weakly.

"Oh don't worry Evans, I plan on making the most of not being on your team."

He knew he should regret saying it, but he just couldn't help himself. The more Lily let him in, the more he wanted to push. Teasing her and having fun like they had this morning just felt right.

Judging by the blush around her ears and the smile she was trying to hide she obviously felt the same.

Sirius cleared his throat, "When you two are quite done" he said, a current of amusement running through his voice. "Go and put some warm clothes on and we can go out into the snow!"

"Sirius I really have so much homework to do-" Lily started again, this time Sirius cut her off.

"No way Evans" he shook his head, "You've just nominated yourself onto my team, so you can go and put on a scarf, or whatever it is girls use to keep warm."

"I hate you" she informed him, before standing up and marching out of the Great Hall.

Sirius cast James and Remus a shifty look before grabbing Peter's arm, "Come on Wormtail, let's talk tactics" he said conspiratorially, before dragging him up to the other end of the table.

James shook his head, "They think they're actually going to beat us" he grinned, turning to look at Remus who was watching him suspiciously. "What?" he demanded.

"What's going on between you and Lily?" Remus wanted to know immediately.

"What, nothing!" James said defensively, "We're friends now."

"You were flirting with her" Remus accused.

James sighed, "Alright, but promise you won't get mad?"

"I will make no such promise" Remus said simply.

James glared at him before ruffling his fingers through his hair, "I overheard your conversation with Lily the other night" he admitted, "The one where she said she didn't hate me as much as I thought…"

"That's not what she said."

"She was talking about marriage, Remus!"

"You can't read too much into this, James" Remus implored, his gold eyes wide and serious. "Lily is upset about a lot right now, the difference in your blood status is only one of those things."

"Are you saying she doesn't like me?"

"Of course not" Remus sighed, "I just don't want to see either of you get hurt."

"Oi losers" Sirius called, and they both looked up to see Sirius stood beside Peter and Lily, the latter of which was now wrapped in a coat, scarf and hat. "Ready to play?"

"Bring it on, Sirius!" he called as he and Remus both stood up. "Just let me try this Moony, and if you still feel the same way at the end of the day I swear I'll go back to trying to be just friends."

Remus' eyes narrowed suspiciously as they walked across the Great Hall together, but he chose not to say anything.

By the time they had made it outside the other three were nowhere to be found, but Sirius liked the tactic of hiding and jumping out on unsuspecting victims. Sure enough, the moment James knelt down to roll up a snowball Lily appeared from behind a clump of bushes and pelted the side of his head with a snowball.

"I've got her!" James called to Remus as Lily took off, giggling with mirth. "You get Wormtail!"

With that said he pelted after Lily, catching her around the waist as she slipped on an icy bit of snow and hoisting her over his shoulder.

"Put me down, Potter!" she squealed, hitting him repeatedly on the back and flailing her legs as he turned away and began to head back to Remus who was jogging in their direction.

"No way, Evans!" James laughed, "Do you have any idea how valuable a hostage is?"

"Sometimes we get Peter" Remus agreed, appearing at their sides just as James let Lily slide off his shoulder. "But Sirius taught him how to get away."

"Well I don't need any lessons" she exclaimed, pushing James in the hope he would lose his footing and trying to take off again.

"Hold on there, Evans" he grinned, grabbing her around the waist again and pulling her into him so her back was pressed up against his chest. He could smell the cinnamon in her hair and tried not to let it distract him. "We have something we do to hostages around here."

"What's that?" she asked quietly, sounding a little afraid.

The rest of her breath whooshed out of her lungs as Remus shoved a lump of ice down her shirt. She squealed and wriggled against James who held her fast so she couldn't get away.

"Let me go, Potter!" she exclaimed, laughing as she squirmed against him. "It's cold!"

He was about to respond but one of her escape attempts was a little more vigorous than he was expecting and he lost his footing, causing the two of them to stumble and land in a heap on the snow.

"Well, this is a lot warmer" she said in a muffled voice, rolling over to face him.

He didn't say anything, just watched her lips as her teeth chattered together and she smiled at him. They were so close he could feel her warm breath against his cheek, and see the gold flecks in her green eyes.

James had never wanted to kiss anyone so much as he had in this moment, and he was beginning to think she might even let him.

Then he was hit in the side of the head a second time by a snowball.

They both jumped and looked up to see Remus staring down at them.

"You hit your own man!" Sirius accused, jumping out from behind the beech tree and pelting Remus with snowballs.

Until Peter also appeared and aimed on at Sirius' head, which was when all hell broke loose.

James and Lily both got up to join in the fun, in which all teams appeared to have been forgotten and they all chased each other around the frozen grounds until their cheeks were pink and their fingers were numb.

It wasn't until Lily insisted that if she didn't get a hot chocolate right away her toes were going to drop off that they all decided it might be a good idea to go back into the warm.

As they were climbing the steps into the Entrance Hall Remus reached out to clap James on the back, "I hope you know what you're doing Prongs" he said, shaking his head.

James smiled to himself, "So do I" he said, so quietly no one could hear him.


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: I own nothing here._

 **Chapter 13**

Just like that James and Lily were friends, and in James' opinion there was nothing better than being friends with Lily Evans.

Suddenly he found he didn't need an excuse to sit next to her in the Great Hall, or walk with her to class. He could just find her in the library and ask for help with Potions homework or tease her just for the hell of watching her blush.

While he had found he'd never been happier, he was also more than a little worried. As much as he loved being friends with Lily, he also knew that wasn't enough and one day he would want to be more than just friends.

The problem was, he wasn't sure that she would.

It was this he was mulling over as he climbed through the portrait hole on a chilly Friday evening. He had nipped to the Owlery after dinner to send a reply to his mother's letter and hadn't wanted any company.

He found Sirius and Peter sitting together on the armchairs by the fire playing a game of chess. By the look of the board Sirius was winning, as most of Peter's players lay in pieces on the table. Although why he even bothered to play, James wasn't sure. He'd been trying to beat Sirius for six years and still had never managed it.

"Where's Moony?" James asked by way of greeting, talking a seat on the arm of Peter's chair.

"Decorating the Great Hall with all the other prefects" Sirius answered, giving one of his pieces an encouraging prod. "I tried to get him to skive but Evans intervened."

James sighed, "I thought we were finally having a good influence on that girl."

"Well she didn't shout when you hexed Snape in the corridor the other day" Peter said fairly.

"That's because Moony was distracting her and she wasn't paying attention" James pointed out.

"Who cares" Sirius said, stretching his arms like a contented cat. "The slimy git deserved it."

"Don't let Evans hear you" said James mildly.

"Bet Snivelly is down there cosying up to her now" said Peter darkly, "trying to get back into her good books."

Sirius looked stunned, "Sometimes you are smarter than you look, Wormtail."

Peter glared at him.

"Evans wouldn't forgive him, and he doesn't seem all that interested anyway" James said dismissively, "he hasn't even tried to speak to her since the first week of term."

"Not that you know of" Peter put in.

"We could always pop down and see for ourselves" Sirius said, noticing the now worried expression on James' face. "I'm dead bored up here and Wormtail is no competition."

"Yeah let's go" James agreed, already up and out of his seat. "Maybe we can even find something to get into detention for."

Sirius clapped him on the back as he followed, "That's the spirit" he said jovially and the three of them left the Portrait Hole together.

Technically they weren't breaking any school rules; it was only 8 o'clock and sixth year students were allowed to be in the corridors until nine.

However, James was certain they weren't supposed to be in the Great Hall while the Christmas decorations were being put up.

Not that it was likely to stop them.

The three of them paused in the entry way to the Great Hall to survey the decorations so far. Twelve huge Christmas trees lined the hall, several of which were already bedecked with glittering decorations.

At the far end of the Hall Professor McGonagall was supervising the fifth year Gryffindor prefects as they hung decorations on the tree closest to the top table. Little Professor Flitwick was stood on a stool levitating decorations to the top of one of the tallest trees.

James spotted Remus and Lily half way down the hall. Remus was hanging baubles on one of the trees with the help of Damocles Belby, a Seventh year Slytherin prefect. At the tree beside them were Lily and Benjy Fenwick, who were looping tinsel over the branches together.

Just seeing Lily stood next to the Ravenclaw made James' blood boil.

"Peter!" someone squealed, and James was momentarily distracted by a pretty, pale girl with charcoal hair and bright blue eyes who came running over to them. She paid no attention to him, or Sirius for that matter, simply grabbed a hold of Peter's wrist and dragged him into the Hall. "You can come and help me!" She said enthusiastically before yanking him away.

Peter had never mentioned he had a girlfriend, and he didn't look back at the two of them to give any indication as to what was occurring. Through whatever it was James was certainly happy about it, after the fiasco with Mary McDonald, Peter deserved to be happy with someone.

"What the hell just happened?" Sirius wanted to know, still staring at the two of them as they crossed the hall together.

"Isn't that one of Daisy's friends?" James said conversationally, watching the girl with dark hair as she threw tinsel over Peter's neck. "She was in the Three Broomsticks that day."

"Nah, can't be" Sirius said dismissively while still squinting to get a better look at her.

"What are you two doing here?" Another voice asked, and they both looked around to see a girl with curly blonde hair and aquamarine eyes staring at them. Her arms were crossed over her blue tie and her eyebrows were raised in a bemused sort of way.

"Hello Felicity" Sirius said, grinning at her charmingly. "How are you this fine evening?"

"Wondering what sort of trouble you're planning on causing me, Black" she said, her blue eyes melting as she looked at him.

James sighed, "I'm going to find Remus" he mumbled, turning and walking away from them both before they could reply. Though he was sure neither of them would have done anyway.

He made his way over to where Remus was hanging decorations, "Hey Remus" he called, pausing before he reached the tree.

Remus looked up in surprise, "James" he said, sounding a little shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"Sirius' idea" he said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of his friend who was now whispering something in Felicity's ear.

Remus rolled his eyes but turned back to look at the tree. James took a step closer, "Hey Moony" he said quietly, glancing around to ensure no one could hear them. "Snape hasn't tried to talk to Evans, has he?"

Remus looked up at his friend and frowned, "No" he said, "I don't think he's even looked this way all evening."

"Good" James nodded, satisfied. "Because we need to keep him away from her."

"Why's that, Potter?" Damocles Belby asked loudly from beside them. "Do you have something against Slytherins?"

James looked up and narrowed his eyes, "No" he said firmly, "But I do have something against Voldemort sympathisers." He was inwardly pleased when Belby flinched at the name. "Don't you?"

"If I say no are you gonna warn me off Evans too?" He asked, not bothering to keep his voice down.

James glanced over to where Lily was, but she was too busy laughing at Benjy to pay any attention to their conversation.

"Yeah, I would" James said roughly. "If you're interested in running around like a nutter in a mask then stay away from Evans."

Belby shot him a two fingered salute but smirked before turning back to decorating the tree.

"James relax" Remus said quietly, "Belby's alright."

James wasn't paying any attention however, he had lost all interest in the conversation as soon as his eyes moved to Lily and Benjy. He watched as the sweet talking Ravenclaw looped tinsel around Lily's neck and pulled her closer to him.

"Come on, Lil" he grinned in a way he must have imagined to be charming, "I swear I saw some mistletoe over here."

"I'm sure you did, Benjy" Lily laughed, pulling out of his grasp and turning back to the tree.

"Don't you want to go and take a closer look?" he pressed, moving back around so he was the forefront of her attention.

"I've seen mistletoe before" she said mildly, "I really just want to finish this and go to bed."

Benjy looked as though he was going to press her again, as he moved even closer so their faces were almost touching. James thought this was the perfect time to shout, "Alright Evans!" causing the two of them to jump apart and look over at him.

"James" she said, a genuine smile overtaking her face and brightening her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"People really need to stop asking me that" he smiled, shaking his head as he moved closer to her direction. "Maybe I just wanted to come and see my favourite person" he took a lock of her hair between his fingers as he said it and looked into her green eyes.

He was pleased to see that she had forgotten all about Benjy Fenwick, and the boy in question looked as though he had just swallowed stinksap.

"But Sirius is right over there" she breathed, grinning at him.

James couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey Lil, you gonna help me with these decorations or not?" Benjy called, looking more than a little annoyed as he hung another bauble on one of the branches.

"Of course" she replied, a little breathy as she turned her attention back to the Christmas tree. "Sorry James, but I really need to finish this."

"No need to apologise, Evans" he grinned at her, "How about I give you a hand."

James could practically feel the daggers Benjy was glaring into his back but he couldn't bring himself to care. Even if Lily hadn't noticed, the Ravenclaw definitely had a thing for her, and he wasn't about to sit around and find out if she still thought he was the most attractive boy in the school.

Between the three of them it didn't take long to finish the tree, and after they'd all moved across to help Remus and Damocles hang the remainder of their decorations, Professor McGonagall came over to tell them it was past curfew and they all needed to go to bed.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't see you Potter" she said, surveying him sternly over the top of her glasses. "And you, Black."

"You're a doll, Minnie" Sirius called to her from the other side of the hall.

She shot him one final glare before turning her back on them.

"Hey Evans" Damocles said as they reached the Entrance Hall together, "I'm going to take you up on your offer sometime."

"I look forward to it, Belby" Lily smiled slightly, bidding him farewell as she made her way towards the staircase with the rest of the Gryffindor's.

Damocles threw a wink in James' direction before turning towards the dungeons. James glowered but chose not to follow him. Benjy was still tagging on to Lily, and for now that was the more important issue of the two.

He'd ask her about her offer to Belby later.

"Hey Fenwick, shouldn't you be going that way?" Sirius asked, pointing in the direction of the opposite corridor they all knew led to Ravenclaw Tower.

Benjy glanced up at Sirius before he said, "Er, yeah." He cleared his throat awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, "Say Lil, could I have a word?"

"Of course" Lily said, smiling as she looked up at him.

Lily hadn't seemed to grasp that Benjy wanted a private word with her, away from prying eyes. Or perhaps she had but was doing her best to avoid it.

Whichever it was, James couldn't help feeling a little sorry for the Ravenclaw who was now looking awkwardly at the three Marauders staring at him.

He cleared his throat, "Well, I just wondered if you'd like to go to the Hogsmeade weekend with me?" he asked quietly.

"Oh" Lily said, a pink blush painting her cheeks and confirming James' suspicions that she had no idea what Benjy really wanted from her. "It's really nice of you to ask Benjy, but Marlene is my friend and I think it would hurt her feelings."

Benjy glanced up at Sirius before turning his attention back to Lily, "She isn't interested in me" he said firmly.

"She really is" Lily contradicted, "Plus, I already made plans to go with someone."

"Who?" Benjy wanted to know, glancing suspiciously at James.

James was just as interested in this as Benjy was, it was the first he'd heard that she had a date.

"Peter Pettigrew" Lily said, continuing to smile away like the cat that got the canary.

"You have a date with Peter Pettigrew?" Benjy clarified.

"No, it isn't a date" Lily said, "He just asked me for a favour, and it wouldn't be very nice of me to cancel at the last minute." She looked up at him with those big green eyes, "You understand, don't you?"

"Er, of course!" Benjy said quickly, "Well, there's always next time right?"

"Right" Lily agreed, "Good night, Benjy."

"Night Evans" he smiled, departing with a small smile of farewell.

She groaned as she turned back to the James, Sirius and Remus and continued their walk towards the Gryffindor tower together.

"You are a cruel woman, Ginge" Sirius said, grinning.

"Oh shut up, Black" she snapped, massaging her temples as though she could push the guilt she was feeling away. "I hate turning people down."

"So why did you?" Remus asked curiously, "I thought you liked him."

"I said I thought he was attractive" Lily corrected, rolling her eyes. "Don't think I don't know Benjy Fenwick has been out with more girls than Sirius Black."

"He has not!" Sirius said defensively as the other two laughed.

"We better warn Peter he's your fake date" James laughed as the four of them climbed through the portrait hole together, "Or Benjy will catch you in a lie."

"Oh, I wasn't lying" Lily said easily, throwing herself into one of the armchairs by the fire. "Peter did ask me to go with him."

James felt the colour drain from his face.

"You're going on a date with Peter?" Remus demanded.

"That's it!" Sirius threw his hands up in the air, "He is officially no longer a Marauder."

Lily's eyebrows knitted together, "I told you, it's not a date."

"Then why are you going together?" James wanted to know.

"Why do you care?" Lily fired up immediately.

"I don't know, Evans" James said sarcastically, "Maybe because I'm the only Marauder you haven't been to Hogsmeade with."

"Well maybe if you actually asked me I might think about going with you!" Lily burst out.

James paused for a moment as he watched a pink blush flush Lily's features, "Would you?" he asked immediately, "Would you go with me, Evans?"

"I already told you, I'm going with Peter" she said, her cheeks still red and her eyes downcast.

"If it isn't a date then why are you going with him?" Remus wanted to know, taking a seat in one of the vacant armchairs and cutting James off before he could say anything else.

In all honesty he had forgotten there was anyone else in the room with them. He had forgotten even that Lily was going to Hogsmeade with Peter. He had forgotten everything that didn't involve Lily telling him she would have gone to Hogsmeade with him if he'd asked her.

"He asked me not to tell you" Lily said shortly.

"Well that can't be true, Evans" Sirius said, squishing himself into the armchair next to her. "We Marauders don't have any secrets."

"He thinks you'd tease him" Lily said.

"Probably" Sirius conceded, "But you can still tell us."

She sighed, "Alright fine, you know that Hufflepuff fifth year Katie that was in the Three Broomsticks with us during the last Hogsmeade trip?"

Sirius said "No" the exact same time James and Remus said "Yes."

"Well, she and Peter have met up a couple of times" Lily continued as though there had been no interruption, ""He asked me to go with him because he wants my help in picking a Christmas present for her."

They all stared at her stunned for a moment.

"No way, Wormy has a girlfriend!" Sirius finally burst out, breaking the tension and causing them all to laugh.

"You won't tease him, will you?" Lily implored.

"Not as much as we'll tease you about being asked out by Benjy Fenwick" Sirius grinned.

"Oh shove off, Black" she said, pushing him out of the chair but laughing along with them.

James smiled but shook his head at his friend's antics, mulling over the possibility that this coming Christmas might be his best one yet.


	14. Chapter 14

_Thank you for everyone who has followed, favourited and reviewed my story. You all make me so happy every time I turn on my computer._

 _Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing but an undying love for everything Harry Potter related._

 **Chapter Fourteen**

James found himself smiling before he'd even woken up that morning, and he couldn't quite figure out why. He rolled over and sighed as he heard his dorm mates stirring. He lay facing the ceiling and imagined Remus wrestling Sirius to be the first to the bathroom for the third day running.

"I know you're awake Prongs" Sirius' voice floated through the curtains on his four poster bed. "I can hear you breathing."

James sighed and pulled his curtain back to face Sirius, "I really wish you wouldn't do that."

"You shouldn't have let him live with you, Prongs" Peter said, who was sitting on Sirius' bed and squashing his legs. "He doesn't understand boundaries."

"This coming from the boy who is definitely invading my personal space" Sirius commented.

"That's a good point, Wormtail" James said, now sitting up in his bed to get a proper look at the two of them. "What are you doing?"

"Remus wanted to use the bathroom first" Peter said, shrugging as he hopped of Sirius' legs.

"Heaven forbid Sirius should have a hair out of place for when we go to class" James said, rolling his eyes as he climbed out of bed and dug through his trunk for his uniform.

"At least my admirers appreciate my fabulous hair" Sirius exclaimed, jumping up on the bed and rumpling the back of his hair. "Do you think Evans has noticed how fabulously wind swept my hair looks" he said in a ridiculously high pitched voice.

James grinned and shook his head as he stood up, slicking his hair back. "Well Felicity might be in the Great Hall, so I can't have a hair out of place" he said, his voice pinched.

Peter doubled over with laughter and fell back onto his bed as Remus entered the room, freshly showered and fully dressed in his uniform.

"What are you idiots doing now?" he asked mildly, scooping up his school bag.

"Idiots?" Sirius said, clutching his heart as though he was deeply wounded. "I am offended, Mr Moony."

"Good" he said, shaking his head. "I'm going down to breakfast."

"Hold on" James said, tripping over his robes in his haste to follow Remus out of the door.

"Relax, James" Remus grinned, shaking his head. "I have to give Marlene her Transfiguration notes back."

"Yeah, he wouldn't dream of cosying up to Evans without you there" Sirius snorted, making his way to the bathroom.

"No, wait!" James started again, "I need to tell you all something."

"Oh, this sounds serious" Sirius said, moving back to the bed as he grinned away to himself. "My favourite topic of conversation."

James rolled his eyes.

"Is everything okay, James?" Remus asked, taking a seat beside Sirius.

"No one's died" James sighed, rolling his eyes as he pulled Peter over to where they were all now gathered. "Although Sirius might kill me when he finds out."

"Better get on with it, Prongs" Sirius said, his eyes narrowing.

James took a deep breath, "I'm not going home for Christmas" he said all in one breath.

They all looked at him like he'd grown a second head.

"And?" Sirius asked.

"I thought you had something serious to tell us" Peter said, shaking his head almost like a dog trying to get water out of its ears.

Remus laughed at the appalled look on James' face, "You didn't really think we didn't already know that?"

"But I sent a letter to my mum-" James stuttered.

"And you didn't want Evans to be alone" Sirius crooned, rolling his eyes as he stood and made his way to the bathroom for the second time that morning. "As if we hadn't already thought of that too."

"You're not exactly the most secretive person, Prongs" Remus said, snorting. "Are you coming down to breakfast or not?"

James didn't answer, just grabbed his tie and followed Remus out of the room.

He let his thoughts wander as he looped his tie around his neck, deflating slightly after his big surprise turned out to be a big flop. Of course he should be happy that his friends had taken the news so well, but after preparing himself for a riot he felt almost robbed of a chance to defend himself.

"So you're okay with me staying here for Christmas?" he clarified as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I thought that was obvious, Prongs" Remus replied, rolling his eyes.

"Well I just wanted to check" James defended as they ducked through the Portrait Hole together. "If anyone has a right to complain it's you, you're going to stuck babysitting Padfoot all holiday."

"Why, are you planning on being joined to Lily by the hip all Christmas?" His friend asked, an amused twinkle playing in his eyes.

"Well no" James replied slowly, "But as my house is out of the question, he'll probably want to come to yours for Christmas now." He pondered this silently for a moment before continuing, "Of course I'm sure my mum would still love to have him without me" he chattered on, completely unaware he'd lost his audience. "I just never thought to ask her."

Remus had stopped still in the corridor and turned to look at him as though he had recently taken a blow to the head, "You are slow sometimes, Prongs" he sighed, shaking his head. "We're staying with you."

"What?" James demanded, chasing Remus down the corridor as he had continued his march towards the Great Hall. "Why?"

"You're not the only one that wants to be there for Lily" Remus pointed out, "Plus the full moon is only a week after and I'm better off here that at home."

"Sirius and Peter don't have to stay" James huffed.

"Oh, Peter isn't" Remus continued conversationally, "His parent's want him home, but Sirius has said he wants to stay for Lily too."

"Well, Evans will be happy" James mumbled as they reached the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Isn't that the idea?" Remus smiled over at him in a knowing way as they wound their way over to the table together

Initially yes, making Lily happy had been his motive for sending a letter to his mother informing her that he wouldn't be coming home for Christmas. He wouldn't say she was exactly happy about it, Christmas would be lonely for her without his dad around, but they always had huge parties with dozens of relatives so she wouldn't be alone.

His second motive had been the idea of spending Christmas alone with Lily Evans.

He had fantasied about evenings spent in front of the crackling fire of the empty common room, of sneaking down to the kitchens together to snaffle hot chocolate and gingerbread men and maybe even stealing a kiss under the mistletoe.

Now all that was ruined, as his best friend's didn't seem to understand the meaning of _four is a crowd._

He tried not to look too surly as he and Remus claimed the bench across from Lily, Mary and Marlene.

The girls were already chattering happily, but looked up and smiled when they arrived.

"Good morning" Mary greeted.

"Is Sirius not gracing us with his presence?" Marlene asked, glancing up the table to see if the elusive Gryffindor had taken a seat somewhere else.

"He's still doing his hair" Remus said mildly, passing Marlene back her notes and smiling in thanks.

"Give it up, Mar" Lily laughed as she shook her head. "When it comes to women, Sirius Black is a cad."

"Albeit a good looking one, you have to admit" Mary agreed.

"I need a date for the last Hogsmeade visit" Marlene complained. "As you're taken, I was sure Black would say yes this time."

"Ask Benjy again" Lily suggested.

"After he asked you?" Marlene snorted, wrinkling her nose. "No thanks."

"We could all go as a group" Remus suggested.

James was just about to jump in and agree with that idea when they were interrupted. All three girls were gazing up over the top of their heads as someone behind them cleared their throat.

"Good morning, James" Daisy Hookham greeted him looking very nervous with her hair braided down one side of her face.

"Hello Daisy" he smiled, wondered what exactly she was doing at their table.

"I've come to take you up on your offer of breakfast."

James didn't remember ever offering to have breakfast with her, but he wasn't about to hurt her feelings either. He shoved Remus who immediately moved over to make space between them.

"Have a seat" James said, smiling as she settled herself between himself and Remus.

"Thanks" she sighed, looking more than a little relived. "It's a bit manic at our table this morning."

"Why?" Marlene asked, glaring at Daisy with a look of upmost disgust.

"Haven't you heard?" Daisy asked, her eyebrows rose in surprise. "A second year Sally Dearborn was attacked before breakfast this morning; she's in the hospital wing."

"What happened to her?" Lily wanted to know.

"Well no one knows, and Madame Pomphrey won't let anyone see her" Daisy shook her head sadly, "But Gemma told me this morning there was a snake drawn on the wall next to where they found her."

James glanced over to the Slytherin table, as though he was hoping to spot the guilty party sitting and confessing to their crime. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary however, and his eyes shifted involuntarily over to Severus Snape who was picking at his porridge with a spoon before he turned his attention back to the girls in front of him.

"It'll be those people in masks again" said Mary, looking oddly pale.

James was sure she was remembering her own attack, and wondering how anyone could do something similar to an innocent twelve year old.

"I'm guessing Sally was a muggleborn" Marlene was saying to Daisy.

"Well, yes" Daisy cleared her throat awkwardly as her eyes glanced over to where Lily was sitting, now staring at her empty plate with dead eyes.

"So what are you doing over here?" Marlene continued, her blue eyes narrowed viciously in Daisy's direction. "I heard you and your mates think muggleborns deserve what they get."

"I-" Daisy stuttered.

"Marlene!" Remus chastised.

"Come on, McKinnon" James sighed, "That's not fair."

"How can you stick up for a muggle hater" Marlene continued loudly, drawing attention to their spot on the table. "After all those things she said about Lily!"

"It wasn't her Mar, she didn't say anything" Lily's voice was quiet and she didn't look up at them. "I have to go" she said quickly, standing up and disappearing out of the hall before any of them could stop her.

"Now look what you've done!" James rounded on Marlene angrily.

"Me!?" Marlene screeched.

"Stop it, both of you" Mary cut in between them, "This has nothing to do with either of you."

"Damn right" Marlene agreed, still glaring at Daisy.

Mary rolled her eyes, "It's Sally Dearborn" she continued before she could be interrupted again, "Lily tutors her in Charms."

James opened his mouth to contradict her, after all Lily had never mentioned helping any second years with Charms. Then all of a sudden he remembered watching her across a corridor as she complimented a little blonde girl on her wobbly braids.

"I should go after her" James said, standing up quickly and making to follow the same track Lily had made. "If Flitwick asks where I am, just tell him I'm sick" he called, completely forgetting about the redhead he'd left sitting on the bench, staring after him with hurt brown eyes.

"He won't believe that again!" Remus called after him, but James didn't even turn to acknowledge him.

His brain had so suddenly and completely filled with Lily Evans, he couldn't concentrate on anything else. He wasn't sure he knew exactly where she'd be, but he had a pretty good idea of where to start.

James found her in what he had affectionately christened, Lily's spot. She was curled up on the windowsill outside the library, sitting cross legged and facing the window. She had left her cloak down in the Great Hall and the only thing separating the chill in the air from her thin shirt was a red and gold Gryffindor scarf wrapped around her neck.

"Alright Evans" James said quietly as he took a step close behind her.

She didn't startle, almost as though she had been expecting him to come. She didn't even look round to face him, just continued to stare out of the frosted window as though the snow covered grounds might provide some answers.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, moving to take a seat beside her. She still didn't look over at him but he could see the dry tear tracks marring her soft face. "You took off so fast and we got worried-"

"She's twelve years old, James" Lily finally spoke, her voice cracked and James couldn't tell if it was because she hadn't spoken in so long or because she'd been crying.

"Lily-"

"How could someone do that to an twelve year old?" she questioned the window. "How?"

"Don't try and understand their twisted minds, Lil" he said, reaching out to place his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" she cried out, flinching back up against the stone wall and staring at him with frightened eyes.

"Lily, it's okay" he reached for her again but she pressed her back into the cold stone wall in an attempt to evade his fingers.

"No it isn't James!" she said, fresh tears leaking down her cheeks. "Don't you see that?"

"All I see is you" he said, reaching out to take hold of her face in his hands.

"They'll hurt you, James" she cried, closing her eyes as more tears leaked out. "They'll hurt you because of me."

"Then we'll have to hurt them back" he said, as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

Lily opened her beautiful green eyes and stared at him as more tears leaked out, "I'm scared, James" she whispered. "I don't know where I belong anymore."

He swept the tears out from under her eyes, "You belong with me Lil, don't you know that yet?"

Lily let out a watery laugh.

"And I'd like to point out you've called me James three times in this entire conversation" he started again.

"Shove it, Potter" she choked on another laugh.

"I'm just sitting here trying to tell you how we so clearly belong together, the least you could do is listen."

"You are not seriously hitting on me, Potter" Lily said, trying to pull her head out of his hands.

"Just stop and listen to me, woman" he said, shaking his head at her stubbornness. It was like one step forward and two steps with her. "I wanted to tell you, that I don't want you to be alone this Christmas."

Lily laughed, "I don't have a lot of choice, Potter" she said simply, pulling her face out from between his hands so she could wipe the remaining tears from her face. "Petunia hasn't answered any of my letters."

"Well, glossing over your charming sister for a moment" James said, rubbing his fingers through his hair suddenly self-conscious. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm staying in Hogwarts for Christmas."

"You're w-what?"

"Not just me!" he said, backpedalling immediately. "The boys are all staying too, Remus is obviously worried about his furry little problem and Sirius just follows me around so-"

James was cut off as Lily's warm body tackled him from the side and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He had to rebalance himself slightly to stop the two of them from rolling onto the floor together, but he took it in his stride as he wrapped his arms around her too.

Lily Evans was voluntarily hugging him, he wasn't about to waste the moment.

"You're kind of my hero, you know that?" she mumbled into his chest.

"I'll rescue you whenever you like, Evans" he said quietly into her hair.

Suddenly she seemed to realise the weight of the moment and softly detangled herself from his arms, a soft pink blush painting her cheeks. "We should get to class" she said quietly, avoiding looking at him directly in the eye.

"We could skive" James suggested, "We are already late."

"I don't know Potter…" she started.

"We could sneak down to the kitchens" he tried again, "You didn't eat much at breakfast."

"I'm not really hungry" she said, shaking her head but her eyes lit up as though she had suddenly had an idea. "Could we go and see Sally?"

"Of course we can!" James agreed easily without missing a beat. "Flitwick can hardly complain about you visiting the best second year in his class."

"How do you know she's the best in his class?" Lily asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"You're her tutor, Evans" James laughed, shaking his head as he took hold of her hand to lead her down the corridor.

Lily didn't say anything, she just smiled up at him in that Lily Evans way that let him know she thought he was completely ridiculous.

Which of course, was completely fine by him.


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: You know the drill, nothing here belongs to me._

 **Chapter Fifteen**

James woke in an oddly quiet and still dormitory a week later, he lay silently for a moment and listened to the sound of at least one other person breathing, letting him know that he wasn't alone.

After the attack on Sally Dearborn security in the castle had tightened three fold, students were not allowed out of their common rooms after 8 o'clock no matter what year they were in and first years could not leave for breakfast without an accompaniment of prefects.

James knew that he, Sirius and Peter were going to have trouble sneaking out of the castle for their nightly tours of the grounds with Remus every month. But right now, that wasn't the only thing that was bothering him.

He was beginning to become more and more uneasy about these attacks on students, as though he subconscious was screaming at him that it was only a matter of time before another Gryffindor was targeted. The only two muggleborns in their year were Mary McDonald and Lily Evans.

Mary had already been targeted.

Fear swooped in his stomach as it often did at times like this, when he was alone and couldn't help but think the worst. But Lily was strong, she could look after herself.

James rubbed his eyes in one last attempt to rid himself of those thoughts before throwing the duvet off and climbing out of bed. He glanced over to see both Sirius' and Peter's beds were empty, but Remus was still sleeping soundly. He dressed quietly, not wanting to wake him, and padded towards the door thinking he might make a head start on some homework while Sirius was so obviously pre-occupied.

He was just debating between Transfiguration and Charms when he reached the bottom step and heard voices coming from the Common Room.

"-can't hide it from me, Ginge" the unmistakable voice of his best friend and pain in the back side, Sirius Black was saying.

"I'm not trying to hide anything, Snuffles" Lily's voice replied.

"You're a worse liar than Prongs, and that is saying something" Sirius laughed.

"You won't tell him, will you?" Lily begged.

James' ears pricked and his mouth went dry, he knew he really shouldn't be listening but he couldn't help himself.

"Come on Lil, you'd make his Christmas."

"You don't know that."

"Trust me, I do."

"Don't you think James would find it a bit weird?" Lily asked.

"Well he'll definitely be more than a little shocked" Sirius laughed in agreement.

"Just let me figure out how I really feel before you start making announcements in the Great Hall" Lily sounded miffed as she said this.

"I don't understand why it's so hard for you to just admit you fancy him" Sirius teased.

James felt his insides freeze up as he stepped out from his hiding place in the stairwell, unable to listen to anymore of the conversation. Of course he had always known this day would come, that Lily would eventually find someone she wanted to be with, he just hadn't expected it to happen so soon.

"Hey guys" he called, making his way over to them.

"James!" Lily squeaked, flushing red and avoiding eye contact.

He assumed it was because she didn't want to talk to him about her potential suitor, which was absolutely fine with him because he didn't want to hear about anything less.

"Where is everyone?" he asked, taking a seat beside Sirius.

"First day of the holidays, mate" Sirius said, looking at him strangely, "Everyone's gone."

"Have you been to breakfast yet?" he asked.

For some reason he couldn't bring himself to look at Lily, he felt almost as if an invisible barrier had been erected between the two of them suddenly. He knew it was stupid because they were only friends, but finally hearing her say out loud that she liked someone had almost made it more real for him.

"Went to get some toast and walked around the lake" Sirius said, "You and Remus were sleeping like the dead and I got bored."

"We could always go down to the kitchens now" Lily suggested, "I always get a serious craving for chocolate mousse at Christmas."

"That is an idea, Evans!"

Sirius was up and out of his seat before James could even reply.

"I think I'll just skip breakfast" James said, ruffling his fingers through his hair. "I have a Potions essay I need to write."

Sirius' mouth fell open as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Prongs" he said slowly, "It's the first day of the holidays."

James could understand the surprise; he didn't think he'd ever done homework before the last day of the holidays since he'd started at Hogwarts. The truth was he really didn't want to do his Potions essay, in fact the only thing he wanted to do less than his Potions essay was try and make conversation with Lily when all he could think about was the conversation he'd just heard.

"I can always help you later if you like" Lily said when he didn't reply, smiling at him like she wanted nothing more than to help him with his Potions essay. "Slughorn hinted he might have us brew Amortentia next term."

"That's okay Evans, I was just gonna head over to the library and get started" he smiled at her, "I wouldn't want to slow you down."

Lily looked at him with hurt in her green eyes, even Sirius looked at him like he'd grown a second head. The two of them didn't bother trying to convince him further after that, simply left to go down to the kitchens together.

The rest of the holiday's continued much in the same fashion, in fact James' best Christmas ever was quickly crashing around his ears. On the days building up to Christmas he made as much effort as possible to ensure he wasn't alone with Lily, but even when Remus and Sirius were around he still found it impossible to talk to her. All their conversations were painful and awkward but he couldn't help it, he just didn't know what to say to her anymore.

He knew Sirius and Remus were wondering what was going on too, but they both waited until Christmas morning when they were all unwrapping presents to mention it.

"What's going on with you and Lil?" Sirius asked as his enthusiastically ripped the paper off his gift from James' mum. "You're acting weirder than you usually do around her."

James shrugged as he shifted through his presents, trying to decide which to open first. "I'm just trying to be friends, like she wants."

"From the way you're acting it's like you don't even want to be a passing acquaintance" Remus commented.

"We were getting too attached to each other" James said simply, "We were closer than just friends."

Sirius shook his head and threw something across the room at James, it landed with a soft thud on the bed coverings, "You might need this when you change your mind" he laughed.

James picked up the little cluster of mistletoe just as Lily Evans flung the door open and sang, "Happy Christmas!"

She was holding presents against her chest and luckily made her way over to Sirius' bed first so James had time to shove the mistletoe under his pillow.

"I thought I'd bring up your presents as I'm all alone in the girl's dormitory" she said, passing one over to Sirius. "Thanks for the perfume Snuffles."

"Anytime" he winked at her, before wrapping into the wrapping paper.

She passed a gift to Remus next, murmuring her thanks for his gift and taking a seat on the bed beside him as he showed her a book his parents had sent him.

James wasn't sure if she had bought him a gift and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Part of him would be relived that she wouldn't sit next to him on his bed and he wouldn't have to try and make conversation with her. But another part of him would be hurt that she hadn't thought of him when he had hoped that they were really friends.

So his heart skipped a beat when she stood and started making her way over to him.

She almost looked nervous as she approached his bed, "I hope you don't mind me coming up here" she said quietly, holding out her beautifully wrapped gift with wide eyes. Sticking out over the top of the giant jumper she was wearing shined a new necklace that gleamed silver in the light, it started in a knot in the centre and stags horns grew from the middle and curled up over her collar bone, hanging there connected by a fine silver chain.

It was the gift he had bought for Lily before he had heard her talking about the boy she liked, afterwards he had debated whether or not he should give it to her, but as he didn't have another gift he didn't have much of a choice.

His heart soared when he saw her wearing it.

"That you for my present" she said softly, her cheeks flushing pink.

James shrugged, "I thought about just gift wrapping myself, I am the perfect present after all."

Lily laughed but seemed unsure how to respond so James patted the spot on the bed beside him encouragingly, "Come on then Evans, where's my present?"

Lily climbed on the bed next to him and crossed her legs, she was wearing shorts that rose up on her thighs and huge woolly socks that James knew she had knitted herself, only because Sirius had demanded a pair for Christmas last year. He took the hand wrapped gift from her, trying not to get distracted by this view.

Carefully out of the wrapping he pulled a huge, leather-bound book. As he smoothed down the cover with his hand the words Mischief Managed glittered gold before his eyes, then quickly disappeared again.

He glanced up at Lily who was smiling mischievously before cracking the spine and opening the book.

On the very first page was a photograph of him, Remus, Sirius and Peter. Sirius was stood on the end, his hair was disarray, he was wearing a torn black shirt and holding a bottle of Ogden's best Firewhiskey. Next to him was James, his arm was resting on Sirius shoulder and he was laughing at a forgotten joke. His other arm was casually slung around Remus' shoulders, whose nose and white shirt was smudged with dirt. Beside him was Peter, fully dressed in an immaculate uniform and looking at the other three with something akin to hero worship in his eyes. Their backdrop was the forbidden forest, and while James couldn't remember that day he knew it could have happened any time through the years.

The photo wasn't moving, but froze perfectly in time like a small slice of history. It made James wonder who had taken it.

"Have you been taking sneaky photos of us, Evans?" he asked, looking up at her and narrowing his eyes.

She held up her hands in surrender, "You boys are just really popular, apparently everyone likes to take your photo."

"Some of us are just blessed with good looks" Sirius commented from next to them.

As James flicked through the book he saw she was right. There were dozens of pictures of the four of them, there were pictures of Sirius pushing Peter in the lake and James pulling Remus along on a sledge in the snow. The was even pictures of Lily where she shook her head exasperatedly and laughed at Sirius but his favourite had to be the one of the two of them dancing in circles around the courtyard, him practically dragging her along while she shot him daggers and tried desperately not to smile.

"I hope you don't mind I made myself an honorary Marauder" she said, reaching out a hand to point at the picture.

James grabbed a hold of her wrist and pulled her across the bed in surprise, planting a kiss on her cheek before she could even compose herself enough to get up. "You're more than an honorary member of this group" he assured her.

"You're Marauder through and through, that's for sure" Sirius agreed, jumping onto the bed to join them and glancing over James' shoulder at the photos. "Give us a look" he said, going to take the book out of James' hand.

"Hey this is my present from Evans, get your own!" James said, scowling as he tugged the album back out of Sirius' hands.

"We didn't all get such interesting presents from Evans" Remus teased, eyes twinkling as he joined them on the bed.

James glanced at Lily to see she had turned a boiling shade of red and was avoiding eye contact. He turned back to the album, his heart hammering in his chest and his breath caught in his throat as he tried as hard as possible to push away the thoughts of the mistletoe stuffed under his pillow.


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer: You know the drill._

 **Chapter Sixteen**

James felt a slump as January began and they all had to return to lessons, he'd gotten used to having an empty common room and no one to share it with but Lily, Sirius and Remus. He would miss spending nights alone with Lily, drinking hot chocolate and making her laugh.

He was almost jealous that he had to share her with the rest of the school.

He didn't feel it more than the afternoon of the second day of term when he popped into the library to get a book for Defence Against the Dark Arts and found her huddled around a table with Damocles Belby. They were sitting too close together in James' opinion, but they appeared to be pouring over sheaths of parchment.

He walked over to them quietly; just before he reached them Lily pointed at a page in a textbook they had open on the table. "I think you'll need more Aconite root than you've specified" Lily was saying.

"It's very toxic" Damocles pointed out, "And I hear it tastes foul."

"Who care about the taste as long as it works?" Lily laughed.

"What are you two up to?" James asked, effectively announcing his presence.

Lily jumped and looked around, "Oh, hello James" she said, looking suddenly embarrassed as her cheeks pinked, "I'm just helping Damocles with some Potions ingredients."

"Really?" James asked, turning to regard Damocles suspiciously. "What would Slughorn's Seventh year star pupil need help with?"

"Are you saying that Evans here isn't smart enough to keep up with me?" Damocles asked, raising his eyebrows as he looked up at James. "Or that she isn't worthy to be spending time with a pureblood?"

"James would never say that!" Lily said sharply, her eyes narrowed in Damocles' direction.

"You hope not, you mean" Damocles laughed. "Clear off would you, Potter?" he said, turning back to his parchment, "Lily and I have work to do."

"Evans?" James said, turning to Lily.

She smiled weakly at him, "I'll catch up with you later" she said, before she too turned to face the table again.

James huffed but didn't try to persuade her, just stormed out of the library without even looking for the book he needed.

He had been under the impression that Lily liked Benjy Fenwick. Clearly he had been wrong.

Then thinking about it, this made so much more sense. The reasons why Lily had been so upset about not being understood by the pureblood community and why Sirius and Remus had talked about her marrying a Pureblood suddenly fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw.

Damocles Belby wasn't a Voldermort supporter, and as far as James could tell he didn't believe in blood purity either. That didn't mean being around him would be safe for Lily, most Slytherin's wouldn't take kindly to her being so close to one of their own.

James remembered only too clearly the Hufflepuff girl's distain at the thought of Lily and Sirius being together.

It might not be fair, but it was the way things were done. Pureblood wizards were considered to be first class citizens and muggleborns were third class. James' and his parents didn't believe in such things, but that didn't mean he hadn't been raised around it. There were very few pureblood wizards who didn't see themselves as above muggleborns, and James had spent plenty of evenings gritting his teeth at dinner while he listened to other people's prejudice.

Of course they were wrong, how anyone could look at Lily Evans and think she wasn't one of the greatest witches there ever was, he certainly didn't know.

He only hoped Belby felt the same.

Of course he should be happy, happy that Lily had found someone who could make her so happy.

Wasn't that what he had always wanted?

He should be happy that he and Lily were finally on good terms. That was something else he had always wanted. So what if he'd thought Lily sneaking glances at him suddenly meant there was something more between them? Did it really matter that he'd taken her wearing his necklace as a sign that she might have feelings for him?

What did all that really matter as long as Lily was happy?

He could convince himself of happiness, as long as her knew that she was. He wouldn't be selfish and childish and try to force her to be with him just because it was what he wanted.

She deserved to be happy.

Through his pondering he hadn't realised where his feet had been taking him, and suddenly he found himself in the castle grounds with no real idea of how he'd gotten there.

The bitter cold still lingered and the snow crunched under his feet as he moved around to the courtyard. It was cold and the middle of the day, James was thankful to have some time alone to think.

Sharing a room with the people he did rarely gave him time to breathe, let alone think.

But he didn't seem to be getting his wish today either.

As he rounded the corner into the courtyard he found two girls huddled together on one of the stone benches, they wore thick cloaks and bright yellow scarves. One had her arm around the other as though in comfort.

James would have turned around and left them in private if the ground crunching under his feet hadn't drawn their attention to him.

The girl with her arm around the other turned to look at him with sharp grey eyes, and James recognised her immediately as the girl who had accosted him outside of Gladrags during his date.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"I'm sorry" James stuttered, stumbling as he took a step back. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

At the sound of his voice the other girl looked up, and he saw it was Daisy. As if his day could get any worse.

"Well you should be sorry" Gemma shouted, standing up and abandoning Daisy on the bench to point an accusing finger at him. "Have you any idea what you've done to her?"

James looked around to see Daisy had hidden her face in her hands, but it was obvious she had been crying."I- Daisy if I've done something to hurt you then I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to."

She finally looked at him then, and despite her tear stained face and messy hair scraped up into a bun on top of her head James again noted how beautiful she was. It was often times like this that he wished his vision wasn't so clouded by Lily Evans. No matter how beautiful any girl might be, she would never be as beautiful as Lily in James' eyes.

"Then why do you continue to pick a lowly mudblood over her?" Gemma about spat.

James felt the anger surge through him as he looked back at Gemma, "Never use that word in front of me" he warned her.

"Why? You might as well hear what everyone else is calling your filthy little girlfriend! "

"She's not my girlfriend!" James burst out, sparing Gemma one last glare before turning his attention back to Daisy. "I really am sorry if I hurt you, you're a brilliant girl and I'm sure you'll make someone really happy one day."

Before she could reply he turned and left, thinking how this day really couldn't get any worse


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: Nothing here belongs to me._

 _To all my followers: I love you all, because this chapter wouldn't exist if it wasn't for you._

 **Chapter Seventeen**

James was quiet the next day, much quieter than usual and it certainly didn't go unnoticed. Remus had been shooting him odd looks all through breakfast but James was glad that Sirius at least appeared too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice anything that was going on around him.

Lily grabbed a slice of toast from the table as she sat down beside him, "Hey Rem, Frank has called a prefect meeting tonight at eight."

Remus groaned, "What for?" He wanted to know.

"Apparently we need to rearrange the schedule" she shrugged, "Did you finish that Potions essay James?"

James felt as though he had been punched in the gut at the sound of his name from her lips, but he forced himself to sound normal as he said, "Just barely" then paused before ploughing on, "I suppose yours is top notch with all the help you've been getting from Belby."

Lily frowned, "I told you I was helping him with a project."

"You two did look very cosy."

"You almost sound jealous" Lily sniped.

"He is jealous" Sirius laughed as he interrupted them and reminded James there were other people in the room, "And you're an idiot for hanging around with Slytherin's considering everything that's happened."

"Damocles isn't like that" Lily pointed out before turning back to James, "And you have no reason to be jealous, me and you do Potions work together all the time."

"Are you sure that's all you and Belby are doing?" James persisted, finding he just couldn't help himself. He had made himself a promise that he wouldn't meddle if he was sure Lily would be happy, but he found he couldn't help himself when she was sat beside him and he could smell her hair.

"I'm going to be really angry if you make me say it again, Potter" Lily fumed.

"Better shut up Prongs" Sirius grinned, "She's not a pretty sight when she's angry."

"I disagree, Padfoot" James smiled, "I happen to think she's always a pretty sight."

Lily blushed scarlet.

"You two are killing me with cuteness" Sirius shook his head and went back to his breakfast.

"Can I interrupt?" A voice from behind them got their attention and they all turned to see Daisy with slightly pink cheeks, nervously twisting her hands together. "I was just wondering if I could speak to James."

"Yeah sure" James agreed, moving over so she could take a seat next to him

"I have to go" Lily mumbled, eyes cast down as she stood up and grabbed her bag. "I told Damocles I'd meet him before second period."

She turned to leave before anyone could stop her.

"Wait up, Evans" Sirius called, standing up and grabbing a piece of toast. "I want a word with you."

She didn't stop to wait for him so he was forced to run to catch her.

Remus cleared his throat and elbowed Peter in the ribs, "We should go and work on that essay too" he said.

"What essay?" Peter asked, oblivious as he continued to eat his porridge.

"That essay we were just talking about" Remus said more forcefully, standing up and grabbing Peter under the arm, "Catch you later, James."

With that the two of them left the table too.

"Sorry about them" James said, turning back to face Daisy quickly. "What's up?" He asked.

She cleared her throat awkwardly, "I just wanted to apologise for Gemma yesterday" she said, "For what she said."

"You seem to be making a habit of apologising for her at the minute" James pointed out.

"Well she did have a point" Daisy countered.

She quickly backtracked when she saw the anger in James' eyes.

"I don't mean about the blood status stuff" she said quickly, "I just mean that you should never have asked me out when you clearly have feelings for someone else."

"I didn't-"

"James you don't have to hide it" Daisy laughed, "You're really not very good at it."

"I asked you out because I like you" James said.

"I know that, James" Daisy smiled in a sad sort of way. "Just not as much as you like Lily Evans."

"It's not like that between us" James insisted, "I'm just sorry you had to get caught in the middle of it."

"I'm not" Daisy said before standing and placing her hand on James' shoulder, "You deserve to be happy, James."

With those as her parting words she gave him one last smile before turning and walking back to her own table.

James signed and ran his fingers through his hair. He'd known it had been wrong to ask Daisy out when he'd done it. Nothing good could have ever come from asking one girl out when he couldn't get his mind off another.

James abandoned his breakfast and negative thoughts in favour of finding his friends. He left the Great Hall without looking back and headed in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

As he walked back he mulled over what Daisy had said to him.

She was right really, he did deserve to be happy. So why was he so obsessed with the idea that his future happiness lay with Lily Evans?

She seemed happy now, or at least happier than she had been back at the beginning of term. If she could be happy with their friendship, why did he still want something more?

Maybe this had more to do with Daisy, she just wasn't the right girl for him. He'd be better off asking someone else to go out with him.

After all, there were more girls than just Lily Evans.

Weren't there?

He pondered this as he gave the Fat Lady the password and stepped through the portrait hole.

What he found in the common room he did not expect. It was practically empty, even though it was coming towards the end of lunch time. The few people remaining were gathered around arm chairs or tables in small groups, throwing sheepish glances at the centre of the room and trying to look as though they weren't listening.

James found Lily and Sirius in front of the fire in the centre of the room, stood five feet apart screaming at each other. Remus was stood behind Lily trying to hold her back and Peter was stood next to Sirius nervously chewing his fingernails.

"How dare you?" Lily screeched.

"How dare I?" Sirius bit back, "You're the one hanging out with people who hate you over people who actually care about you."

"You are being such an ass, Sirius Black!" Lily yelled.

"Well maybe you need to learn who to stay away from!" Sirius bit back.

"I am so _sick_ of you boys sometimes, I can't do anything without being criticised!" Her voice wobbled as though she might cry but her eyes were hard as shiny emeralds.

"Then why don't you go and hang out with those Slytherin's you love so much?" Sirius continued, "You probably don't even care what they did to that second year."

"Sirius" Remus said warningly.

"What?" Sirius snorted derivatively, "You think she shouldn't know what sort of people she's hanging out with?"

"Belby isn't-" Lily started.

"Belby's a Pureblood Slytherin" Sirius pointed out, "Or were you hoping that if you hung out with him then the rest of them will let you in the gang?"

"Sirius" James implored, unable to take his eyes off Lily as the first tear broke free of her eyelashes and slid silently down her cheek.

"That's it, isn't it Evans?" Sirius practically roared, "You're hoping if you get chummy with Belby the rest of the psychopaths will forget about your filthy blood status."

"Sirius, enough!" Remus shouted.

But the damage was done, James could see it in Lily's green eyes and the still wet tears that lingered in her eyelashes. She took a very deliberate step towards Sirius, looked him straight in the eyes and said very quietly, "Never come near me again, Black."

Before any of them could even try and stop her she had turned on her heel and disappeared up to the girl's dormitory.

"Sirius!" James snapped the minute her robes had whipped out of sight, "What in Merlin's name is going on?"

"I'm just sick of her fawning over Belby like he's the greatest person she's ever met" Sirius heaved, his cheeks slightly red and his voice breathless.

"She doesn't fawn over him" Remus countered.

"You were out of order saying those things to her" Peter said quietly.

Sirius glanced from James to Remus then finally to Peter before he narrowed his eyes and said, "Fine, but when we have another Snivellus moment, she better not come running to me!"

Then he too turned on his heel and disappeared up to their dormitory.


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: You know what's coming._

 **Chapter Eighteen**

James waited for Remus and Peter to leave the next morning before he cornered Sirius. Remus was still too angry to speak to him anyway and Peter, not knowing whose side was best to be on, just dutifully followed Remus out of the door.

Sirius had been hidden behind the curtains of his four poster bed when the rest of them had gotten to the dormitory that night, and James hadn't tried to bother him, feeling his friend could probably use a bit of space.

James approached him as he was busy with his eyes cast down, fixing his tie around his neck.

"So, are you going to explain what all that was about last night?" He asked.

Sirius glanced up at him before narrowing his eyes and saying, "We should go to breakfast."

He turned and left the room before James could say anything else, so James merely grabbed his bag and followed.

"Come on Padfoot, this is me talking here" James tried again.

"Look, I'm sorry for the things I said to Evans" Sirius said as they walked across the empty common room. "I didn't mean them."

"I know that, have you told her?"

"Not yet" his friend mumbled quietly.

"Well you should" James pressed.

"Better give her some space to cool off first" Sirius countered, "She has one hell of a temper."

"Don't I know it" James agreed.

"Do you think she will forgive me?" Sirius asked, looking scared for the first time.

James hesitated before he answered.

Honestly he thought there was no chance Lily would forgive Sirius that easily. The things he had said were too close to what Severus had said to her by the lake at the end of last year.

He knew Lily had it hard, having to hold her head high and pretend that she didn't notice when people scorned at her and treated her differently. To know people hated her just because of who her parents were. He imagined it was hard enough knowing that strangers were thinking such things, but to hear the same from a person she considered to be a close friend?

James couldn't imagine what she was thinking.

"I don't know mate" he said honestly as they crossed the Entrance Hall together.

They had reached the Great Hall and as they moved down the table James saw that Lily was sat between Mary and Remus. Marlene had taken the seat across from her and they all turned to glare at Sirius as he passed. All but Lily, who was determinedly looking in the other direction.

James glanced around the Hall as they took a seat at the other side of the table and saw that Peter was having breakfast with Katie at the Hufflepuff table.

James shook his head and turned back to face Sirius, noticing his eyes were also fixed on the Hufflepuff table.

"Who'd have thought Wormtail would be the only Marauder with a successful love life" he shook his head disgustedly.

"Haven't you insulted enough friends for one day" James pointed out, raising his eyebrows and pouring them both a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Maybe" Sirius muttered, glancing up the table to where Lily and Remus were talking quietly. "How long do you really think it will take Evans to forgive me?"

"Well she hasn't forgiven Snape yet."

"I would never call her a you know what!" Sirius hissed, looking scandalised.

"You said she has filthy blood."

"No, I said the people she hangs out with think she has filthy blood."

"I don't think she saw the distinction."

"You can't tell me you actually like her hanging out with Belby?" Sirius implored.

"No" James agreed, "but I'm not going to fall out with her because of it, I made that mistake with Snivellus."

Sirius sighed and shoved his hand roughly through his hair, "She's incorrigible."

"This isn't about her" James countered, "What's bothering you?"

"Can't I just be mad at Evans for hanging out with Slytherin's when she so obviously belongs with you?" Sirius asked, his mouth twisting into an ironic smile.

James rolled his eyes, "I don't know how many times Evans has to tell you she just wants to be friends before you listen to her."

"You don't actually believe her when she says that, do you?"

James felt himself go hot and then cold all at once, "Why wouldn't I?"

Sirius opened his mouth as if to answer before closing it slowly and saying, "Never mind."

James narrowed his eyes, he wanted to push it but he also knew that if Sirius didn't want to talk about it then no amount of coaxing would change his mind. Plus there were other more important things to discuss.

"You can pretend to everyone else last night was about Evans, but you don't fool me Padfoot."

Sirius slumped in his seat and sighed, "Do you remember my uncle Alphard?"

"The one you went to visit last summer?" James queried.

"Yeah, well he died a couple of weeks ago."

"Sirius, why didn't you say anything!" James chastised.

Sirius shrugged, "You all have your own problems, and it's not like my charming mother would let me attend the funeral anyway."

"Is that what this crazy behaviour has been about?"

"Sort of" Sirius admitted sheepishly, "It seems Alphard left me a decent bit of gold but mother isn't happy."

"Of course she isn't" James muttered.

"Regulus told me night before last that she plans to contest the will" Sirius said, his mouth twisting as though the words tasted bitter. "Tell them I'm not a part of the family.

"Do you think she'll do it?"

Sirius shrugged, "Uncle Al was pretty smart, he probably guessed she'd try something."

"So why did you go and take it out on, Evans?" James sighed.

"I didn't!" Sirius defended, "I was just trying to make her see what purebloods are really like."

"You're not like that, Sirius."

"Aren't I?" He laughed bitterly, "Like you said, I told her she has filthy blood."

"But you don't really believe it."

"No, I suppose not."

"If you apologise and explain then Evans will forgive you" James said, sounding sure of himself. "She'd forgive you about anything."

"Evans isn't going to let me anywhere near her" Sirius countered

"We'll brainstorm in the back of Charms" James said bracingly, "If Evans can forgive me then I'm sure she'll forgive you."

"Alright let's go" Sirius said, standing up and glancing over to the now empty bench in which Lily and Remus had previously been sat. "We'll have to get there early if we want to sit at the back."

James stood to follow him, weaving his way between the students as he followed Sirius. He was almost at the door, and so preoccupied thinking about ways to coax Lily into forgiving Sirius that he hadn't even noticed where he was going until it was too late.

He walked straight into a Ravenclaw girl heading towards her table, sending books flying everywhere.

"I am so sorry!" He blurted out, kneeling to help her retrieve them.

"That's okay" she laughed a high musical note before kneeling to help him.

"James, are you coming?"

At the sound of Sirius voice he looked up, and his eyes locked with the girl kneeling in from of him, who happened to be no other than Melody Jones.

Melody was Felicity's little sister, and she was pretty but lacked the over the top beauty that Felicity seemed to have in spades. Her thick blonde hair was piled on top of her head with tendrils falling around her face and into her aquamarine eyes.

Her sister might have the beauty, but Melody definitely had the most breath taking eyes.

They were trying to be blue but almost seemed green.

"I'll catch you up" James called to Sirius.

Melody grabbed the last book on the floor before standing, "Thanks James" she said, smiling away at him like he was the best thing since sliced bread.

"Oh it was my fault" James said easily, gathering the books together in preparation of handing them back to her. He noticed _A Guide To Transfiguration_ was on the top.

"Are you studying advanced Transfiguration already?" He asked interestedly as he passed the books back to her.

Melody was only a fifth year, and half of James' classmates hadn't even tackled some of the things in that book yet.

"I have a lot to live up to with my sister as Head Girl" she confessed, sweeping a stray hair out of her face.

"Well, don't work too hard" James smiled awkwardly then inwardly kicked himself.

"I'm having a bit of trouble with Transfiguration to be honest" she confessed, taking a step towards him as though this was some big secret.

"Oh well it's all about concentration" James told her, "As long as you understand the theory, there isn't much too it."

"You're so clever James!" She said breathily, smiling and showing off two rows of perfectly white teeth. "Maybe you could help me sometime?"

"Oh-" James stuttered, "Well, sure if you think I could be helpful-"

"Brilliant!" Melody cut him off, beaming at him. "Meet me in the library at 12 this Saturday?"

Before he even had chance to respond she had turned on her heel and left, leaving him no choice but to follow Sirius to Charms.

He still hadn't quite worked out what he was going to say to his best friend, who he spotted looking utterly miserable stood in the back of the queue when James reached the classroom.

Lily Evans was difficult at the best of times, and this time James could truly understand why she would be angry.

He would have kicked Sirius himself if he hadn't known the idiot hadn't meant a word that came out of his stupid mouth.

So they sat whispering in the back of Charms for an entire period, and by the time the bell rang James was certain they had a plan that might work.

He began putting it into action as soon as they left the classroom. He waited for Lily to disappear to her second period History of Magic class before he cornered Remus.

"What do you want, Prongs?" Remus asked exasperatedly as James dogged his footsteps towards the library.

"I need your help with a prank."

"Would this prank in some way entail convincing Lily to listen to Sirius?" Remus asked without looking up.

"No of course not!"

"So what does it entail?"

"Getting Lily and Sirius in the same room together."

Remus paused in the entrance to the library, shot him a glare and said, "Forget it" before leaving him in favour of the dusty bookshelves.

"Wait!" James hissed, lowering his voice as he stalked Remus into the Charms section. "You haven't heard my plan yet!"

"I don't need to hear it to know it will never work" Remus said plainly, carefully examining the spines of the books piled neatly on the shelves.

"Come on Moony, help a Marauder out here" James implored.

"Sirius should never have said those things to Lily" Remus said simply.

"You know he didn't mean them."

"That doesn't make it right."

"Look we both know Sirius is a prat most of the time" James hissed, "But he really cares about Evans."

Remus sighed and turned to look James in the eyes for the first time since the beginning of the conversation, "What is the likelihood of you leaving me alone before you get your way?"

James pretended to think for a moment, "Slim to none."

Remus sighed in a put upon sort of way but James could tell he was fighting a smile, "Fine, what do you want me to do?"

James grinned triumphantly as he began to fill Remus in on his ingenious idea.

All it involved really was getting Lily and Sirius into the same room as each other, which he knew at least one of them wouldn't agree to.

Which was exactly the reason he found himself practically dragging Sirius up the stairs to their dormitory that lunch time.

"Come on Prongs, I'm starving" Sirius whined as he dragged his heels and followed James up the stairs.

"Stop thinking about your stomach for five seconds, Padfoot" James rolled his eyes, "I think I left my Defence Against the Dark Arts essay in here."

"So get a detention, what's the big deal?" Sirius complained as he shoved his way through the door.

The sight that greeted them was Lily Evans and Remus sat cross legged on his bed, eaten stolen cake and laughing at something Remus had just said.

Lily's eyes were round when she spotted him and her mouth fell open when she saw Sirius come in behind him.

"Lily-" he stuttered.

She stumbled off the bed so fast she fell and James had to stop himself from reaching out to help her.

"I should have known!" She said shrilly as she frantically gathered her things together.

"Come on Evans-" James started.

"Don't you even speak to me, James Potter!" She was so angry her eyes practically burned, and James couldn't help but take an automatic step back.

"Lily, now that he's here why don't you just hear Sirius out?" Remus tried.

"Don't think I'm not furious at you too, Remus" she said, her eyes downcast as she shoved the last of her things into her already billing school bag. "I was stupid to think that maybe just this once you would have taken my side."

"That's not fair Evans, Sirius didn't-"

"I can speak for myself, James" Sirius interrupted quietly.

"Well that's just too bad because I'm no interested in anything you have to say" she made a move towards the door but James blocked her exit.

"You can't leave until you've heard him out" James implored.

"You can't tell me what to do, Potter!"

"Lily, please" Sirius tried again, "Just let me explain."

"What is there to explain?" Lily burst out, throwing her bag back into the corner and glaring at Sirius. "I heard you the first time Black, you think the same things as every other person in this school."

"I don't-"

"And the worst part is, you pretended not to!" Lily was practically screeching now.

"Come on Evans, you don't believe that" James implored.

"Don't act as thought you're any different" she turned on him, her voice hysterical and her eyes bright. "Don't pretend that perfect Potter wants to spend any more time with a mudblood like me."

"Don't call yourself that" Remus reached out to touch her but she jerked away her arm.

"Why not, everyone else does!" Her voice finally cracked and two tears leaked from her eyes.

James' heart broke just a littlbecause for her and he wanted nothing more than to pull her into a hug and never let go. But he wasn't sure she'd exactly reciprocate his feelings and he was afraid of making things worse.

"Lily, just let me apologise" Sirius started again.

"No!" Lily shouted, "Because I can deal with everyone hating me for something I can't control, but after everything that happened with Severus I thought I knew who my friends were."

"I am-"

"But you're just like him!" Tears were fully flowing down her cheeks now and she was struggling to speak without gasping for breath. "I'll never be good enough for any of you!"

"Lil, Lil please calm down" Sirius reached out to take ahold of her arm as she broke down into a fit of tears, but she flinched away from him and somehow James found himself holding her as she sobbed uncontrollably into his chest. He would have been thrilled if he wasn't so heartbroken for her.

"Lily, will you please just let me explain?" Sirius begged, "I really didn't mean anything I said yesterday."

James felt sure she would have retorted if she wasn't currently choking back fresh tears.

"I have things going on with my family, which I know isn't an excuse, but I was just so angry with pure bloods and their stupid values and I didn't want to see you get hurt again."

"You"re rambling, Padfoot" Remus pointed out.

Lily had stopped crying, but she was still sniffling into his chest. He instinctively tightened his arms around her, "Come on Evans, aren't you convinced yet?"

Lily mumbled something incoherent into his chest.

"I will divert to cheating tactics and tickle you" he warned, breathing quietly into her hair just for the pleasure of watching her blush and try to fight a smile.

She moved out of his arms and glared at him weakly as she wiped the last tears from her cheeks.

"Lil, would you just look at me?" Sirius asked, pulling on her arm until she turned to face him. "Come on, have you ever seen me this serious before? I'm really, really sorry."

"Sirius, I just-"

"Come on, Lil-"

"No, you can't just say _come on Lil_ and expect all to be forgiven!"

"Fine, what about this?"

Before anyone could say anything, or even try to stop him, Sirius had disappeared and in his place stood a huge black dog. He sat on his hind legs and looked up at Lily with huge black eyes.

"No!" Lily said at once, turning around so she wouldn't have to look at him, "That isn't fair!"

The dog followed her, his nose pointing upwards as he stared into his face. She gave him on long look and as he cocked his head to one side to consider her she sighed and crumbled onto the floor in front of him.

"I hate you" she informed him, before leaning forward to wrap her arms around his neck.

James let out a sigh of relief he hadn't even realised he'd been holding as the dog turned back into Sirius and hugged Lily back. He and Remus both piled on and soon Lily was laughing and pushing them off, complaining she couldn't breathe.

As if any of them cared.


	19. Chapter 19

_Disclaimer: I don't anything here._

 **Chapter Nineteen**

The weather remained cold as they moved through January. The frosty grass on the grounds crunched under James' feet as he and Sirius made their way towards the castle after an early morning Quidditch practice.

They had an upcoming match against Ravenclaw at the end of February and James wanted to ensure they were prepared for all eventualities.

Not that he was worried, he had the best team in the school.

But they did needed to ensure they beat Slytherin by a reasonable margin to stay in the running for the cup. Slytherin had flattened Ravenclaw last week and James was worried that they if they didn't get ahead now they would regret it later.

"Fancy sneaking into Hogsmeade later?" Sirius asked, flicking his hair out of his face and jolting James out of his thoughts of the Quidditch Cup. "I should probably get Evans a birthday present."

James had forgotten that it would soon be Lily's birthday, and he hadn't even thought about what to get for her.

After all, what did you get for a girl who thought you just wanted to be friends when you really wanted to be something more?

That added to the fact that this would be the first birthday Lily would celebrate without her parents, and James couldn't imagine she would be in the mood for partying.

"I can't" James said, clearing his throat and running his fingers through his hair awkwardly. "I'm meeting a girl."

"Don't be thick, Prongs" Sirius snorted, "I know Evans is studying with Moony this afternoon because I bribed him with chocolate to keep her busy."

"Will they be in the library?" James said quickly.

Sirius shrugged, "I doubt it, Remus said he wanted to do some spell work" he said, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Why?"

"I told you, I'm meeting a girl."

"In the library?" Sirius snorted.

"She said she needed help with her Transfiguration work" James said defensively.

"So you have an actual date?" Sirius clarified, "With a girl who isn't Lily Evans."

"It's not a date" James said, suddenly feeling self conscious. "She just asked for some help with Transfiguration."

"Who is it?" Sirius wanted to know.

"You know Felicity Jones' little sister Melody?"

Sirius stopped to gape at him, "Oh for the love of Merlin!"

"What?" James asked, beginning to wish he hadn't said anything.

"Well if you're meeting Melody Jones then it's definitely a date."

"What makes you say that?" James asked.

"The only person who needs help with Transfiguration less that Melody, is you."

"How would you know?" James asked.

"Felicity talks to me about things, sometimes I listen" Sirius shrugged as they stepped through the Portrait Hole together. "Her sister is already studying sixth year Transfiguration."

"I know, she told me."

"And you still think it isn't a date?"

"Not everyone has an ulterior motive, you know" James told him as they claimed the stairs together.

"You keep telling yourself that, Prongs" Sirius smirked as he pushed the door to their dormitory open.

James didn't have time to argue, just to quickly jump in the shower and throw some clothes on before he ran back down towards the library to meet Melody.

After speaking to Sirius he was feeling more nervous than he ought to be, and he kept ruffling his hair.

Not that he had any reason to feel nervous because this wasn't a date, Melody had just asked him for help with Transfiguration homework, much like he often helped Peter. They would probably talk so much about spell work he would regret ever leaving the Quidditch pitch.

On the other hand, what did it matter if this was a date? Melody was an attractive girl, and it might be nice for him to spend time with someone who wasn't Lily for a change, maybe it would help him to work out what his feelings for her were.

He felt much more cheerful as he jumped up the last two steps leading to the library.

When he reached the library he was glad to see that the tables were free from Lily Evans, he did spot Damocles Belby at a table by himself but decided to pay the Slytherin no mind as he made his way over to Melody. Her blonde hair was spilling in front of her face as she pored over the books in front of her.

"Hello" James said in way of announcing his presence, "Sorry I'm late, I had Quidditch practice."

Melody looked up at him with a beaming smile and big blue eyes, "You're not late" she told him as he sat down.

"So what did you need help with?"

Melody pushed book she was reading across towards James and leaned so close her chest brushed against his arm, "Well it's this bit I'm struggling with" she told him, leaning closer still to point at the paragraph in the book.

James cleared his throat, "Right well, human Transfiguration can be tricky" he started.

"I bet you don't have any problems with it, James" she said, getting her eyelashes.

"Well when you understand the theory-"

"I heard you and Daisy Hookham had broken up, is that true?"

James' head whipped around so fast he thought he might have neck, "Well we never really-"

Melody reached out to place her hand on his arm, "So you're free for the next Hogsmeade trip then?" She pressed.

James could feel this study session quickly crashing around his ears, and he was beginning to think that Sirius had been right about Melody thinking this was a date.

Not that it would necessarily be a bad thing, Melody seemed nice and she was certainly beautiful. But she was coming on a bit strong and James wasn't sure how he felt about that.

He felt bad enough for the way he'd hurt Daisy's feelings, and he really didn't want to have to repeat the process any time soon.

"Actually Melody-" he started, a flash of light from across the room catching his attention.

He glanced up to see the light was catching off the wristwatch of the very girl he just couldn't stop thinking about. Lily was leaning across the table that Damocles Belby was sitting at, pointing at something on a sheath of parchment. As though his gaze had caught her attention she looked up, her eyes flicking between him, Melody and her hand that was still on his arm.

She muttered something to Belby before turning and disappearing into one of the bookshelves with a swish of red hair.

James turned back to Melody who was still waiting expectantly with blue eyes, he hesitated for a second before stuttering, "I've just thought of a book that will really help you with this."

He catapulted out of his seat before she could stop him and marched down the aisle he had just seen Lily disappear down.

He found her in one of the dark deserted corners, reaching up to pull down a book.

"Alright, Evans" he said cheerfully.

"Oh, hello Potter" she said, barely sparing him a glance as she pulled another book off the shelf.

"What you doing?" He asked.

"Remus needed some books for his Charms homework" she said, still not looking at him.

"Right" James nodded, "Well I'm just looking for a book to help out Melody."

Lily finally turned to look at him, and he could just make out her thunderous expression in the dim lighting. "Nice of you to mention you were dating Melody Jones."

"I-" James stuttered, pausing and drawing his eyebrows together in confusion. "Why does it matter?"

"Oh, it doesn't" she said in a high pitched voice, "I couldn't care less who you date."

James snorted, "You so care" he contradicted.

"Oh grow up, Potter" she hissed.

"Why can't you admit you're jealous?" James flared up angrily.

Lily promptly turned a bright, blotchy red, "I am not jealous!" She insisted, narrowing her green eyes at him.

James laughed though he didn't find this remotely funny, "Oh come on Lily, it couldn't be more obvious if you went and jabbed Melody in the eye with your wand."

"I really couldn't care less what you do with Melody Jones" Lily insisted, flicking her hair out of her face. "In fact, I feel sorry for the poor girl."

"She'd probably say the same about you, hanging onto Belby's every word" James bit back.

"Now who's jealous" Lily demanded, "And I've told you that I'm just helping Belby out with a project."

"Well at least I'm not the only person you're pretending to have feelings for" James said derivatively.

"Does it make you happy to hear me say I don't have feelings for Dam?" Lily seethed, "Because I think this might be the twentieth time I've said it."

"Well we both know how good you are at being in denial" James pointed out, "Why don't we talk about your feelings for me?"

"I have no feelings for you, Potter!" She burst out in whispers, "Other than finding you completely infuriating."

James took a step closer, lowering his gaze so he could look directly into her fiery green eyes, "Well at least that's honest, what else?"

She looked a little startled by his sudden movement but her eyes didn't lose their anger and she stood her ground as she said, "You're conceited and vain, you want everyone to notice you and you're beyond arrogant to the point of stupidity." She swallowed as he took another step closer, "And.. and.."

"And what, Lil?" He breathed, taking a lock of her hair between his thumb and forefinger.

"And" she took a deep breath, "And you're the sweetest, kindest, funniest, stupidest, most considerate person I've ever met."

James didn't give her a chance to think after that, his chest inflated like a balloon as he grabbed her around the waist and crushed her against one of the bookshelves before covering her mouth with his.

He had dreamed about kissing Lily Evans for approximately 2 years, 5 months and 21 days and it certainly wasn't a disappointment.

Her lips were warm and soft against his and her intoxicating cinnamon smell completely surrounded him. After what might have been minutes, or several perfect hours, they finally broke apart.

Lily was staring at him with big green eyes looking very breathless.

"Oh Merlin" she said quietly, "James' I'm not really sure that was-"

"Lil."

"I mean, not that it wasn't nice, because it was-"

"Lil."

"I just think maybe we should-"

He cut her off successfully by pressing his lips against hers again. She didn't resist, but melted into his chest as though she belonged there.

"Lil" he said quietly, moving back only far enough to rest his forehead against hers. "Shut up."

Lily opened her mouth again before letting out a giggle and quickly closing it.

Just for the hell of it, and because he could, James leaned in to kiss her again.


	20. Chapter 20

_If someone had told me when I started writing this that there would even be a chapter twenty I would have laughed and told them that the Chudley Cannons were more likely to finish at the top of the league. This is all thanks to you, thank you so much to all my reviewers for your words of praise and advice. If it weren't for all of you this chapter wouldn't even exist._

 _So I hope you enjoy it._

 _Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter related other than an unnatural obsession with the characters._

 **Chapter Twenty**

Lily Evans' birthday turned out to be an extremely subdued affair.

After they kissed in the library, James had barely laid eyes on Lily. She had run off so quickly afterwards, and he'd had to stay behind to explain things to Melody.

After that whenever he saw her they always seemed to be surrounded by people. He had to settle for discretely grinning at her from across the room and watching her face light up a delicious shade of pink.

A warm feeling had settled over his chest and he felt as though he was carrying around an enormous secret.

He'd done nothing but grin like an idiot for the entire weekend, until finally Sirius had asked him is he'd been on the receiving end of a backfiring cheering charm.

He couldn't help himself, every time he sat down to try and finish a piece of homework or play chess with Sirius his mind just wandered back to the library. To those perfect seconds where he'd held Lily in his arms and she'd let him.

He wanted nothing more that to just speak to her, to hold her in front of everyone else and tell the world how he felt. But at the same time he didn't want to scare her away by unleashing the full force of his feelings onto her.

So he settled with catching eyes with her across the room and discretely holding her hand under the table at breakfast.

He thought they were doing a pretty good job of keeping things under wraps, until he caught Remus smirking at them over his pumpkin juice on Sunday morning.

James was most afraid of Sirius finding out, because as soon as that happened there was bound to be a huge fan fair and most likely an announcement in the Great Hall.

But Sirius seemed too preoccupied to notice anything.

Every time Lily stood still around him he was hounding her about a birthday party. It seemed clear to James that she just really wasn't in the mood to celebrate, and given what had happened to her parents he couldn't say he blamed her.

But Sirius was like a dog with a bone, and had promised that he would throw a huge party that weekend for her birthday. Lily had promised she would cheerfully beat him to death if he tried.

Instead they settled with discreetly handing her presents over at breakfast that morning. Sirius had wanted a big fanfare and had prepared to shoot streamers out of his wand when she arrived, until Remus had pointed out that given everything with her family that might be a bit insensitive. So he just arranged her a plate of pancakes and syrup at the seat beside him and poured hot chocolate into her mug the moment she sat down.

She looked pale, and there were rings under her eyes as if she hadn't slept much the night before.

James wasn't really sure what to do, he wanted to reach out and touch her, to lean over and kiss her on the cheek. He felt as though everyone at the table must be able to feel that something had changed between them because he could barely contain his feelings inside his chest. But he didn't think she'd appreciate a huge display of affection so he settled for squeezing her fingers under the table, and his breath caught in his chest when she squeezed his back.

"I told you I didn't want a fuss" she said weakly as she accepted their badly wrapped gift.

The scruffy parcel contained a jewel encrusted, framed photograph of the five of them and a giant bar of Honeydukes finest chocolate.

Lily looked up with unshed tears in her eyes, "Thank you all, I love it."

"I bribed Edgar Bones into covering your prefect shift tonight too" Remus said.

"Have I ever told you that you're four of my most favourite people?" Lily smiled gratefully.

"We made a cake for later aswell" Peter piped up.

"And James was all for getting you an engagement ring, but we talked him out of it" Sirius joked.

"Very funny" Lily said, glaring at him weakly as her cheeks coloured slightly.

"We were thinking about sneaking into Hogsmeade later" James said conversationally, "To go to the Three Broomsticks."

"Sounds very.. Marauder-ish" Lily said dubiously.

"That's the spirit Evans" Sirius said cheerfully, shovelling more bacon into his mouth.

Lily glanced up at James for the first time and smiled, a little pink settling on her colourless cheeks. His stomach felt like it was doing little flip flops.

"Hey James."

The sound of his name jolted him out of his preoccupation with Lily and he looked up to see Melody Jones was forcing her way onto the bench between Sirius and Peter.

"Hello Melody" he said mildly, "Need some more help with Transfiguration?"

"You ran off from the library so fast on Saturday, I didn't get my answer."

James suddenly felt himself go hot.

"No offence Jones, but we're sort of in the middle of something" Sirius said loudly.

"Have you seen my sister recently, Black?" Melody asked, her eyes flashing dangerously as she looked at him. "She told me you haven't answered her question either."

Sirius opened his mouth to retaliate and then closed it quickly.

"So are you free for the next Hogsmeade trip then?" Melody asked bluntly.

"Er" James stalled.

"I'm going to be late for History and Magic" Lily mumbled, before quickly standing, grabbing her bag and rushing out of the Hall without another word.

James groaned inwardly.

"Look Melody, I'm not really free to go to Hogsmeade with you."

"Oh, okay" Melody said, shrugging cheerfully. "Well, we can always do something else."

"No, I'm not really-"

"Catch you later, James" Melody cut him off as she stood and flounced back to the Ravenclaw table.

Now James really did groan and put his head in his hands.

"What is wrong with you" Sirius hissed, "I told you going out with Melody was a bad idea, the Jones girls are nothing if not clingy."

"I was helping her with Transfiguration" James mumbled into his arms.

"I'm not sure that's how Lily saw it" said Remus.

"Yeah Prongs" Sirius agreed, "And now you've upset Evans on her birthday."

James opened his mouth to retaliate before he realised he really didn't know what he was going to say.

"Lily doesn't really have a reason to be upset though" Peter came to his aid, "I mean, she isn't his girlfriend."

"Don't be thick, Wormtail" Sirius shot back.

"I'll explain everything to her tonight, alright?" James said.

"You'd better" Sirius warned, "Because I want tonight to be perfect."

As it turned out, things seemed to run a lot smoother than most of their nightly visits to Hogsmeade.

Sirius had invited Marlene and Mary, so the girls had spent the better part of the evening getting themselves ready. After Sirius had warned them three times that they would leave without them, the girls had finally appeared.

James had to concentrate very hard not to get distracted by Lily's red lipstick.

He'd had to concentrate even harder taking the girls under the invisibility cloak to the secret passage that led to Hogsmeade.

Lily had been squashed up next to him and the smell of cinnamon from her hair was making him want to reach out and touch her.

She hadn't so much as looked at him since she came down the stairs, and she seemed to be forcing herself to laugh every time Sirius made a joke. He wanted to tug on her hand and pull her to the back of the group as they all walked through the tunnel together, but she was holding hands with Mary and he just couldn't seem to shake off Peter.

So instead he strategically positioned himself between her and Marlene at the table as Sirius offered to get the first round of drinks. Then rolled his eyes as he watched his best friend sweet talk the pretty barmaid Madame Rosmerta.

If James had even half of Sirius' charm he wouldn't be having as much trouble as he was now. Or maybe if Lily was as forward about her feelings as Melody, then maybe they'd be getting some where. He felt as though he had to pull every feeling she had about him out of her, and he was beginning to run out of ideas.

"Cheers" Sirius said as he returned with the drinks, reaching out his glass so they could all chink them together in the centre of the table. "Here's to getting the birthday girl as drunk as possible."

"Bring it on, Black" Lily laughed, taking a big chug off Firewhiskey.

James hesitated slightly before taking an obliging sip of his drink.

"Drink up, Prongs" Sirius joked, "You need it after the day you've had."

"Have you had a bad day, James?" Lily asked.

"Well I haven't had chance to speak to you" he smiled at her, "So of course I've had a bad day."

Lily promptly turned a furious shade of scarlet.

"Well you and Melody Jones seemed to be getting along so well, I didn't want to interrupt things" Lily hissed, lowering her voice.

James glanced around the table to check no one else was listening. "Lil, as much as I love it that you get jealous, you really have no reason to be."

"I'm not jealous" Lily insisted, flicking her hair out of her face, "I just think it's bad manners to kiss one girl then-"

James reached out to hold her hand under the table, "I like you, Lily" he told her solemnly, "I've only ever liked you."

Lily's breath caught as she gazed at him with those huge green eyes. She opened her mouth as though to say something but they were interrupted.

"Oi love birds" Sirius said loudly, "When you're done being gross, we want to play a game."

James turned to glare at him as Lily said, "What type of game?"

"The type that is going to get us very drunk" Sirius promised just as Peter returned to the table with a tray full of shots.

"This will not end well" Remus promised.

He couldn't have been more right.

A couple of hours later, James thought he and Remus were the only two left that could stand up straight. He wasn't sure what Sirius had put in those shots, but either they were really strong or the others just really couldn't hold their drink.

"We should think about getting back soon" Remus said, glancing at his watch. "It's past midnight."

"Do you want to be the one to break that news to Padfoot?" James laughed.

Lily appeared and grabbed a hold of his right arm, "Come and dance with me, James!"

"I'd love to Lil" he said, grabbing hold of her waist to steady her. "But you can barely stand up."

"Don't be a fun sponge!" She giggled.

"I think it's time you went to bed, Lil" Remus said.

"I'll take her back" James told him as Lily wrapped her arms around his neck, "You can round the rest of them up."

They both looked up to see Sirius pulling Marlene up onto the table he was already dancing on. While Peter was snoring softly on one of the chairs in the far corner and Mary was chatting with a handsome wizard at the bar.

"I think you got the better end of the deal" Remus said as Lily leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I definitely did" James laughed, looping his arms around Lily's waist and pulling her out of the bar. "Come on, you."

"But I didn't do anything" Lily laughed as she stumbled and grabbed a hold of him.

"Just drank way too much" James smirked as he pulled her up against his side.

"Sirius bought them all" Lily giggled.

"Sirius is a bad influence" James said, hoisting her up again as she almost tripped over a tree root.

"You're a bad influence, James Potter!" She whirled around, pointing her finger at him.

"Me?" He laughed, reaching out to lace his fingers between hers. "Honestly, you try and take a drunk girl home and put her to bed and _you're_ the bad influence."

"You kissed me then you didn't talk to me, but you talk to Melody Jones!"

"In my defence Lil, Melody just talks at me."

"Do you want to kiss her?" Lily asked, scrunching up her face.

"Don't be silly" James sighed, reaching over to brush a stray hair out of her eyes. "I want to kiss you."

"I want to kiss you too, James" Lily breathed.

James felt fireworks explode in the pit of his stomach. He didn't know how long he had been waiting for a sign from Lily that she had feelings for him, aside from their make out session in the library last week, and now he finally had one.

It was just a shame she had to be rip roaring drunk to actually admit it.

"Come on Lil, let's get you to bed" he said, trying to loop his arm around her shoulder.

"No" Lily said, pushing him away and pouting adorably. "I want you to kiss me."

"And I want nothing more" James assured her, "But you're drunk."

"Not that drunk" she countered.

"Right, that's it" before she could say anything else James bent over, grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder.

"James!" She squeaked, giggling and swaying as he started to move again. "Put me down!"

"No way" he said, grinning to himself. "You need to get to bed and my self restraint can only take so much."

"You're no fun" she huffed, "I'm supposed to be the serious one."

"How about I promise to give you a good night kiss before I put you to bed?" He smiled.

"Okay" she mumbled, suddenly sounding sleepy. "But you better make it good."

She was fairly quiet the remainder of the way back. James had to ease her off his shoulder and help steer her back through the passageway, it really was a miracle they managed to get back into the common room without being seen.

He was sure Lily would have curled up and gone to sleep on one of the armchairs if he hadn't steered her towards the girls staircase.

She turned to look at him before she went up, her lipstick was smudged and her eyes were overly bright.

"What about my good night kiss?" She asked.

James had to physically restrain himself, "Lil, you're drunk and I really don't want to take advantage-"

"You're sweet, Potter" she cut him off, "But I'm sober enough to know what I want."

She ran her fingers through his hair and pulled him into a kiss that he felt right down to the tips of his toes.

"I'll see you in the morning, okay?" She smiled before placing a final kiss on the tip of his nose and disappearing up the stairs.


	21. Chapter 21

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter might own my heart, but I don't own it_

 **Chapter Twenty-One**

James tried his hardest not to laugh as he sat down at the breakfast table the next morning. After he'd gotten Lily to bed he'd gone straight up to try and get some sleep while he could, and sure enough an hour and a half later Sirius had dived on top of him singing something about a hippogriff at the top of his lungs. Remus had looked exhausted and fallen onto his bed without a word, while Peter already looked like he was asleep standing up. That had left James to deal with Sirius, and he'd ended up with a snorting best friend taking up half of his bed.

While he might not have been hungover, he was certainly exhausted.

Lily on the other hand, was looking much worse. She was sat directly across from him, and was leant against the table with her head in her hands. Sirius was at next to him staring into a cup of coffee as though he was contemplating drowning himself in the dregs.

"Good morning" James said cheerfully as he helped himself to toast.

"Please Prongs" Sirius groaned, "No loud noises."

"Where are the girls?" he asked Lily.

She mumbled something into her arms.

"Didn't catch that."

Lily sighed and pulled her head up from her arms, her hair was slightly mussed and her eyes drooped.

"Marlene refused to get out of bed, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't move Mary."

"Are you looking forward to Charms?" He asked.

"I'm trying to not simultaneously throw up and pass out."

James laughed.

"It was worth it though" Sirius said, taking a huge gulp of coffee.

"You're lucky I can't move my limbs, Black" Lily said through gritted teeth, "Or I'd strangle you for buying all those shots."

"No one forced you to drink them" Sirius pointed out.

"I'm going to the bathroom before Charms" she told them, before grabbing her bag and leaving the table without looking back.

James watched her red hair sway as she left the Hall as his mind wandered back to last night. Lily Evans demanding that he kiss her seemed like something he could only dream up, and he had to keep reminding himself that it actually happened. He was only jolted out of his thoughts of her when Sirius said, "I heard you drew the winning lot last night."

His head whipped back around to face Sirius, "What?" He demanded, trying to keep the guilty look off his face.

"Lily said you carried her home" Sirius couldn't contain his grin, "Had to be better than Remus trying to herd me and McKinnon when I had my tongue down her throat."

"You should leave Marlene alone" James said, letting out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. The last thing he needed right now was Sirius finding out about him and Lily. Things were going to well, and as much as he loved his best friend, the boy just had a knack for causing mischief.

"She loves me" Sirius shrugged, flicking his hair out of his eyes. "Shall we ditch Charms?"

"Evans looks ten times more rough than you and she's still going."

"Evans is a goody goody" Sirius pointed out.

"Well, I'm going" James said, getting out of his seat. "Try to stay out of trouble."

Sirius shot him a two fingered salute and winked as he caught the eye of two pretty Hufflepuffs watching him from their table.

James rolled his eyes as he left, but by the end of the first period Charms lesson he wished he had taken Sirius' advice and just skipped.

His best friend was also absent from their second period Transfiguration lesson and after spending the first half of third period in the library with Remus he had to concede that Sirius had been right.

He had a soft throbbing under his right eye and every time he tried to concentrate on reading something the room started to spin.

James bid Remus farewell as he went in search of somewhere quieter than the library. He was relieved when he entered the common room and there was no sign of Sirius, the last thing he wanted to deal with right now were his best friend's antics.

He just wanted some quiet without dealing with complicated Transfiguration questions or wand movements for Charms.

James was relived when he reached the solitary of the dormitory, and placed his throbbing head against the cold stone of the wall.

He just needed a ten minute nap before he could even think about facing the rest of the afternoon or even dealing with other people.

The sound of breathing jolted him out of his self pity and he glanced around, wondering who else had come into the room to find sanctuary. He was surprised to see there was a lump curled up on his bed, and he moved around the room slightly so he could get a better look at the trespasser. When he spotted tuft of red hair on his pillow he knew who it was immediately.

"Alright Evans" he grinned, leaning against one of the four posts and glancing down at her.

She opened one eye to look up at him, "Just leave me alone to die" she groaned.

James rolled his eyes, she was worse than Sirius when he thought he had a cold. "What are you doing up here?" He asked.

"There were too many people in my dormitory."

"Are you suffering?" He teased.

"I'll never forgive Sirius for making me chug half a bottle of Firewhiskey" she complained, her voice muffled into the pillow.

"Do you need a cuddle, Evans?"

She looked up at him with those big green eyes, "Yes" she said quietly.

He climbed up over her onto the bed and pulled her back against his chest. She scooted backwards and he found she fit snugly into him, as though they had been designed for each other.

This was beyond perfect, and more than James could have possibly wished for when he came up to his dormitory.

He could happily stay like this forever.

"Did you have a good birthday, Evans?" he breathed into her hair.

"Thanks to you and your friends" she replied.

"You doing okay?"

She reached to take hold of his hand and squeeze his fingers, "Better now."

Carefully he intertwined their fingers together, "If you ever wanted to talk about your parents, that would be okay" he told her quietly.

"I'm not sure what to say" she mumbled.

"Not talking is okay too" he pulled her closer up against him.

"It's hard to make myself remember they're gone, you know?" She said quietly, "Because here nothing has changed and I don't have to think about it, I'm not as sad as I should be."

James remained quiet but traced nonsense patterns on the back of her hand with his thumb.

"I miss the way my mum smelled, like baking and lavender" her voice shook but she didn't cry, "I miss the way my dad called me his Lily Flower."

She softly detangled her hand from his and turned around so they were practically nose to nose against the pillow.

"What do you miss about your dad, James?"

James took a deep breath, "My dad was like a constant presence in our family" he told her, "He was never afraid and he always knew what to do, and for a long time I felt lost without having him there for advice."

Lily reached out to muss his hair.

"And I suppose I worry that my mum is lonely, with no one to share that big house."

"You have a big house?" Lily asked.

"I told you I was rich, Evans" he grinned.

"I thought you were just saying that to try and impress me."

"Did it?"

"Nothing you do impresses me, Potter" she told him, holding back a laugh.

"You're going to be sorry for all the mean things you've ever said to me, Evans" he promised.

She narrowed her eyes, "I'm not mean to you" she defended.

"Making me wait all those years before you finally admitted you liked me" he placed his hand on his heart dramatically, "You put me through so much pain, Evans."

"Well I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself, Potter" she laughed, "I never said I liked you."

"I think you trying to snog my face off last night was a clear indication."

"Oh you're reading the signs all wrong."

"Right, now you are being mean" he grinned, "And you asked for this."

He reached out to wrap his arms around his waist and dug his fingers into his ribs. She squealed and wriggled under him as she tried to escape, "Stop!"

"So remind me who your favourite person is, Evans?" He grinned as he continued to torment her with his fingers.

"James, please!" She choked.

"Sorry I don't do nice things for people who don't like me."

"Okay, okay I give up!" She said, wriggling away from him as he finally let her go. "I'll say it."

"Better make it good, Evans."

"Out of all the people in this dormitory, you're my fourth favourite" she said, bursting into a fit giggles at the look on his face.

"Right you, come here" he said, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her across the bed. "I know a better way to shut you up."

He was about to draw her into a kiss when she stopped him, all green eyed and breathless.

"I do like you, James" she told him quietly, "You make me less afraid somehow."

He did kiss her then, long and hard until she giggled and pulled away breathless.

Because at her words a fire had lit in his chest, and none of the horrors happening inside or outside the castle walls mattered anymore.

All that mattered was Lily Evans, and her ability to make him happier than he had ever been.


	22. Chapter 22

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything on here._

 **Chapter Twenty-Two**

As January ended the snow began to melt and February brought with it sunny spells, and the best month James had experienced at Hogwarts since he became an Animagi.

Because now not only did he get to sneak around the Grounds once as month as a stag with his other illegal Animagus friends and part time werewolf. But now he also got to kiss Lily Evans.

That might be only one of the perks of spending so much alone time with Lily, but he happened to think it was one of the best perks.

So maybe they couldn't hold hands in the corridors, and he couldn't tell everyone that she was his girlfriend, but things were definitely almost perfect.

Lily had told him she wanted to keep things quiet for now, she didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to herself.

Which he didn't really understand, but could live with - for the time being.

Because although he might not be able to scream at the top of his lungs that he was with Lily Evans, she did sneak into his room after everyone had gone to sleep just to make out. She laughed at all of his jokes and didn't even make an excuse to reach out and touch him. She sneaked down to the kitchens with him at weekends and cheered the loudest when she came to watch him at Quidditch practice.

Whenever he looked at her his chest expanded like a balloon and he wondered if that feeling would ever go away.

He hoped not.

James was making his way down to what they had unofficially made into their meet up spot.

He usually had a lot of trouble shaking off the others, who all wanted to know where he was disappearing off to all the time.

The minute he told Sirius he was going to the library to work on extra Potions his best friend gave him a disgusted look and left him alone.

He checked behind him that no one had spotted him before disappearing into the dusty bookshelves. He and Lily always met at the far end of the advanced Potions section, because no one ever came up that end. In fact the only people who ever did were stressed out Seventh years taking Advanced Potions, and they were usually too tired or busy to notice anything going on around them.

James was now using them as examples to try and stop Lily from continuing with Advanced Potions next year.

So far he was failing.

He smiled when he found her, she was sat cross legged in the furthest corner with her nose buried in a book. Probably reading something about an extremely complicated Potion containing five hundred ingredients that took a year to brew.

"Hello you" he said, smiling down at her and crossing his arms as he shoved his shoulder into one of the bookshelves.

Lily looked up at him and smiled, "Where have you been all day?" She asked softy.

"Waiting to see that smile" he grinned, sprawling down on the ground next to her and putting his arm around her. "What are you reading?"

"About Amortantia" she told him, snapping the book closed and sliding it back onto the shelf. "Slughorn said we might get to brew it this year, and I'm excited."

"You're such a geek" he laughed.

"Just for that, I'm not going to help you" she told him, folding her arms over her chest.

"That's just mean, Evans" he narrowed his eyes at her, "You know I need all the help I can get."

"That is not true" Lily scorned.

"Well if I am doing well in Potions, it's all thanks to the help of my beautiful tutor" he teased, "Now are you going to kiss me or not?"

"Is that all you think about?" Lily laughed.

"I've been waiting all day to kiss you" he complained, "Do you know how hard it is to sit across the room from those lips of yours and not be able to kiss you."

"You have such a hard life" she mocked as she stood up, "We can't anyway, we'll be late for lunch and people will be suspicious."

"Let them be" James whined, clambering up and reaching out to put his hands on her hips and pull her up against him.

"James I've explained this to you, as a muggleborn it's just not a good idea-"

"To draw more attention to yourself" James finished, rolling his eyes. She'd been saying the same thing to him all week. "Trust me Lil, no one cares."

"If that was really true then people wouldn't be being attacked left, right and centre" she pulled out of his grip. "Let's just go to lunch."

She didn't give him a chance to reply, just turned and walked out of the bookshelves without looking back.

James just sighed and followed her, there really was no point in arguing anyway.

Usually they would make a point of walking into the Great Hall separately, so not to advertise the fact that they had just been doing something together. Today James ensured they walked in side by side, almost to prove to himself and Lily that people really weren't all that interested in what they did.

Remus raised his eyebrows when they finally reached the Gryffindor table together, "What have you two been doing?" He asked.

"Potions" Lily said as she sat down, keeping her eyes averted.

"You're always doing Potions these days" Sirius complained, "Evans is turning you into a swot."

"I want to be an Auror" James defended.

Remus raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly, "Oh Lil I forgot to tell you, Benjy wanted to swap prefect rounds with me."

"Perfect" Lily groaned, "When?"

"Tonight."

"Thanks for selling me down the river" she complained.

"Sorry Lil, but I still haven't finished that Charms essay due tomorrow and I'll be in the hospital wing all weekend" Remus pulled a face and Lily immediately looked guilty for complaining.

"Don't be silly, Rem" she said quickly.

"I can come with you if you don't want to be alone with him" James interrupted.

"I'lll be fine, James" Lily said, "Benjy isn't going to hurt me."

"He likes you."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Well I don't like him, not like that anyway" she affirmed, "Shouldn't you be more worried about tomorrow's Quidditch game than who I do my rounds with anyway?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "It's only Ravenclaw" he pointed out, "Maybe you could remind your boyfriend tonight that he's going to get beat tomorrow."

"He is not my boyfriend!" Lily practically shouted.

All four boys glanced around at each other, slightly shocked by her outburst.

"Is everything okay, Lil?" Remus asked, his eyebrows pulling together in concern.

"Fine" she huffed, pushing her hair behind her ears. "I'm just sick of you going on about Benjy Fenwick."

"We're only messing about" Sirius said, looking at her strangely. "We all know you're way too good for that sweet talking Ravenclaw anyway."

"Yeah, you should be with a Gyffindor" Peter put in, casting a sideways glance at James.

"Would you stop with the dating advice" Lily snapped, "As if I don't have enough going on already."

James sighed, "Come on Lil there's no need-"

Before he could finish his sentence they were interrupted by a group of fifth year girls wearing Ravenclaw scarfs around their waists.

Melody Jones was leading the group and she looked slightly giddy as she reached out to place her hand on James' arm. "Hey Captain" she giggled, "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Ready to beat your captain, that's for sure" he grinned at her.

She leaned in close to his face, "So James, my friends and I have this dare, that I have to kiss the Captain of the winning team."

James smiled, "Maybe you should be telling Huntington, he needs the extra motivation."

"How can I tell him when I'm hoping it will be you" she batted her eyelashes at him.

"Listen Melody, I really didn't mean to give you the wrong impression but I'm not actually-"

"I'll be rooting for you James" Melody winked, as she brought her voice back to normal volume. Then she turned and sauntered off back to her friends who were all giggling and waving at Sirius.

James groaned as he turned around.

"That girl has her eye on you, Prongs" Sirius said.

"I think she's pretty" Peter said.

"Shall we go to Defence Against the Dark Arts?" Remus suggested.

Lily grabbed her bag, "I promised Marlene I'd sit next to her" she mumbled, and disappeared before any of them could stop her.

James sighed as he got up from his seat, dreading a conversation he would likely have to have with Lily later on. Maybe no one else knew they were a couple, but they certainly seemed to act like one.

Remus hung back as the other two walked ahead, "What's going on with Lily?" He wanted to know.

"Nothing" James said immediately.

Remus rolled his eyes, "Come on Prongs, do you really expect me to believe you've been doing Potions work every time you sneak off together?"

"Alright" he conceded, "Me and Lil have been spending time together, but she doesn't want anyone to know."

"Because you're a pureblood" Remus nodded.

"Do you really think people will care?" He asked.

"James, you're an idiot if you think no one in this school cares that Lily Evans and James Potter are _finally_ an item" Remus pointed out, "But Lily's an idiot for letting that be a reason not to."

Before James could ask him to say all that to Lily he had disappeared into the classroom.

James didn't see Lily for the rest of the day, she had last period free and he guessed she must be holed up in the library until her Prefect rounds. A part of him had wanted to go and find her, but he thought about what had happened at lunch with Melody and decided he'd be better to give her some space.

Remus had disappeared to the library to finish his essay and Peter was meeting up with Katie. Without them around as a distraction James spent the entire evening gnashing his teeth at the thought of Lily and Benjy spending an evening together. In the end he even drove Sirius crazy, and his best friend disappeared up to their dormitory muttering about fourth year James and his unnatural obsessions.

James remained in the Common Room as it began to empty, determined to stay awake and stop anything from happening between Lily and Benjy when they finally returned.

It was well after midnight by the time she appeared, she was alone and she looked so tired he just wanted to pull her into his lap and hold her.

"What are you doing up?" She asked softly, dropping into the seat next to him.

"Waiting for you" he told her.

"I can't come up to bed with you tonight" Lily said, leaning over to rest her head against his shoulder. "I won't want to go back to my room."

"So don't."

"James we talked about this" she said, "I'm not ready for people to know yet."

"Did Benjy ask you out again?" He asked quietly.

"What?" She shook her head as she looked at him. "Of course not."

"If he knew I was your boyfriend he wouldn't even think he could" James pointed out.

Lily sighed and stood up, "James, now you're being ridiculous."

"I don't like the way he looks at you" James said simply.

"Well I don't really like the way Melody Jones flirts with you, but I'm not making a big deal about it."

"She wouldn't flirt with me if you were my girlfriend."

"Now you're being childish."

"What is so childish about wanting to tell everyone how I feel about you?"

"We've only been seeing each other for a month" Lily pointed out, "Why can't I figure out how I feel myself before we involve the entire school?"

"What happened to being sober enough to know what you want?" James asked quietly.

"We will tell people, James" Lily promised, "I just think I already draw enough attention to myself, without a pure blood boyfriend."

"So you don't want to be my girlfriend?"

"I didn't say that."

"I'll tell you what Lil, how about you tell me when you've figured out what it is you want."

He turned his back on her to head up the stairs, not even turning around at the sound of her calling his name.


	23. Chapter 23

_Disclaimer: Still don't own anything, still wish I did._

 **Chapter Twenty-Three**

James hadn't thought it was possible to feel bad after just finishing Quidditch game, especially a game he'd won. Even if he wasn't having a particularly good day, the euphoria was usually contagious. But today, he didn't think it was possible to feel worse. He had only come down to dinner because Remus had insisted, but he wasn't eating and he could barely look at anyone else at the table.

He'd only managed to get a few hours sleep the night before, after sitting up and telling the other Marauders everything that had happened between him and Lily Evans over the past month.

Sirius had acted outraged that he hadn't been told earlier, but soon was insisting that he had known all along and would be having words with Lily about her behaviour.

Remus hadn't been surprised, but he was sad that between the two of them they couldn't figure out a way to work things out.

Peter hadn't said anything throughout the entire time James had been speaking, but once he'd finished the story, told him that he was far better than Benjy Fenwick and if Lily couldn't see that, then she was the idiot.

James was grateful to them all, but he hadn't exactly been heartened when he made his way down to the Quidditch pitch that morning.

He'd seen Lily sat at the other end of the table with Marlene at breakfast, but she hadn't once glanced in his direction and she didn't come over to wish him or Sirius luck before they left. Sirius hadn't mentioned her name, but he did glance in her direction as they were leaving the Hall.

As a result James felt terrible from the moment he mounted his broom, and didn't think he'd ever played worse. They still managed to win, thanks to Gwenog Jones scoring pretty much all of the goals and his seeker pulling out a spectacular catch just at the right time.

But James really needed to sort out his head before the next game, because he really couldn't afford to lose Gryffindor the cup.

Maybe Lily already hated him, he really didn't want the rest of his house to hate him too.

Although Sirius had insisted several times that Lily didn't hate him whenever he voiced these opinions, he had stopped in front of where she was sat with Mary at dinner that evening to speak to her about it. James had stood beside him silently, not really knowing what to do with himself. He had been forced to come to dinner in the first, the last thing he wanted was to get in the middle of a disagreement between Sirius and Lily.

They were both stubborn as old mules.

"Didn't feel like wishing us luck this morning then, Evans?" Sirius said loudly as they reached the point of the table where the girl's were sitting.

"Leave it out, Black" Lily sighed, keeping her green eyes fixed on him.

"Are we only friends when it's convenient?" He sneered.

"That's out of order" Marlene said, turning to glare at him.

"Me out of order?" Sirius sounded outraged, "We've been there for her this entire time, and she can't even wish us good luck before a lousy Quidditch game?"

"There's no need to talk about me like I'm not here!" Lily burst out, standing up and slamming her hands against the table.

"Sirius, just leave it" James muttered.

"Don't act like you're any better James Potter!" Lily lashed out, "He's only saying all this because of you!"

"I'm literally just standing here" James said.

"And Sirius hasn't been avoiding me all day because of things you've said to him" Lily said sarcastically.

"You know what Lil, not everything is about you" he said, then walked off before he could say something else he'd regret.

He huffed as he sat down next to Remus, not even bothering to see if Sirius had followed.

"Having a bad day?" Remus asked as he sat down.

"Is it that obvious?" James asked moodily.

"Cheer up Prongs" Peter said, scooping pie into his mouth. "You beat Ravenclaw today."

Sirius came and sat at his other side, "And Melody Jones is heading your way."

"What?" James whipped around just as Melody appeared at his other side.

"Hey James" she grinned.

He groaned internally as he turned back to face his empty plate. He was having enough trouble with one girl as it was, he really didn't need another adding to his problems.

"What's up Melody?" he asked as politely as he could manage.

"Just following up on my dare" Melody said, slipping into the seat next to him. "I owe you a kiss."

"I think Huntington is more deserving of it" James said, turning to smile at her. "After getting beat, I'm sure he needs all the cheering up he can get."

Melody flicked her hair over her shoulder, "I've already told you James, I'm not interesting in Huntington."

James ran his hands through his own hair, "Like I've been trying to say Melody, I'm just not available right now."

"It's Evans, isn't it?" Melody said.

"Don't be stupid" James said.

"Please James, the entire school can see you're not over her" Melody stood up and turned to look him in the eye. "Just so you know, I'll be around for when you realise she just isn't interested."

Melody turned and sauntered back to the Ravenclaw table.

"She has a point, Prongs" Peter said, "There are other girls than Lily Evans."

The three if them stared at him for a second before Sirius snorted and said, "Don't be thick, Wormtail."

"Let's have an excursion tonight" James suggested.

"It isn't a full moon" Remus pointed out.

"So?" James shrugged, "Let's just get out to the castle and get into some trouble."

"Yes Prongs!" Sirius grinned, "Now you're talking."

It had been a long time since he and the Marauders had done anything fun together. The darkness that was seeping around the castle seemed to have effected them more than they were willing to admit, and their plan to try and bring a little bit of happiness into this overwhelming darkness just didn't seem to be working.

James felt exhausted just with the effort of it all.

Sometimes it felt as though the entire school was against him, including people that should be on his side.

He knew the others felt it too. Sirius had family problems, not to mention a younger brother with possible ties to the wrong side. Remus was always exhausted thanks to his monthly excursions, but recently he'd been looking even more worse for ware. Peter was the only one who didn't seem effected by it all, and James has to wonder what his secret was.

Just making it through Potions without hexing a Slytherin these days was difficult.

So it was refreshing to go out into the grounds with his three best friends and just pretend that none of it was happening. He felt better than he had all day as the four of them entered the Great Hall just past curfew.

"You need to make up with Lily, Prongs" Sirius said as he shook his hair out and looked even more like a dog than he had just minutes earlier. "The world feels off kilter somehow, with you not speaking to her."

"I'm not really sure what to say to her anymore" James shrugged, "I can't force her to like me."

"Of course she likes you" Remus rolled his eyes.

"She sure looked jealous when you were talking to Melody earlier" Peter said.

James sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "Lily acts like she's carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders" he said awkwardly, "sometimes I wish she'd just lighten up."

"Well you can't really blame her" Remus reasoned, "She did just lose her entire family."

"Plus she spends most of her time at this school hated for something she can't even control" Sirius put in.

"And if she did actually tell people she was your girlfriend, the girls who don't hate her now definitely would" Peter finished.

"Gee guys, thanks for making me feel like even more of a jerk" James sighed.

"She'll get over it" Sirius nodded knowingly, "Evans might be stubborn but she can't ignore her feelings for you forever."

James was about to turn and ask Sirius what he knew about Lily's feelings when suddenly Mary came skidding into the hallway, her eyes were wide and her hair was haphazard around her face. She almost ran into Remus but he caught her under the arms, "Woah, Mary" he said softly, "Where's the fire?"

"Oh thank God!" she sighed, her shoulders visibly relaxing when she saw them. "You have to come with me!"

"You're such a drama queen McDonald" Sirius rolled his eyes, "What, did Marlene break a nail?"

"No!" Mary burst out, "You're such an asshole, Black!"

"Come on now Mary, that's just rude" James sighed.

"So unlike you" Remus shook his head.

"You don't understand!" Mary practically yelled, leaning against the wall as though she needed to brace herself.

"Because you're not making any sense" Sirius pointed out.

"Look, she was in the library okay?" Mary tried again, eyes wide as though she was trying to convey how serious this point was. "She lost track of time with Potions, or she wouldn't have been there so late."

"Mary, take a deep breath and tell us what you're talking about" Remus said slowly.

"It was those people" she whispered, shaking slightly as though she was terrified. "Those people in the masks."

She had turned back around when Sirius grabbed a hold of her arm, "Who was is Mary?" he demanded.

She looked straight into James eyes with such fear the hair prickled on the back on his neck. "It's Lily" she whispered, her eyes wide with fear.

James entire body went cold as though he'd suddenly been doused in freezing water.

At Mary's words something inside him seemed to snap, and both he and Sirius were running towards the Gryffindor Common Room as though a fire was at their heels.

His mind was suddenly completely blank of everything but Lily. Both of fear because of what might have happened to her, but also of guilt because of all of the things he'd said to her just before it had.

He and Sirius burst through the Portrait Hole with the others close behind them and James was the first to spot Lily.

She was sat on a sofa by the fire between Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Medowes, both appeared to be trying to comfort her.

Lily wasn't looking at either of them but her green eyes were staring into the fire as though it might provide some answers. Her legs were drawn up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them, her face was chalk white and she had a deep gash down her cheek.

"Lily" Sirius said, pushing past James to kneel in front of her. "What happened?"

She turned to look at him but she didn't answer, as James got closer he could see that she was visibly shaking despite the warmth of the fire.

"She was just leaving the library when two Slytherin boys attacked her" Marlene explained, reaching out to touch Lily's arm before thinking better of it and pulling her hand away. "She said they were wearing those masks and she didn't see their faces."

"Hey" Sirius said softly, reaching out to push her chin up and force her to look into his eyes. "Lil, what did they do to you?"

She opened her mouth before closing it again.

"They didn't…" James took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck, "Evans, tell me they didn't use an unforgivable?"

Lily took a deep, shaky breath and looked up at him with those big green eyes, "Cruciatus" she said so quietly he almost didn't hear her.

Sirius swore loudly and stood up, moving away from her as though he was afraid of what he might do if he remained close.

Anger like James had never felt before surged through his body, he wanted to find whoever had done this and make them pay. Make them hurt ten times more than they had hurt Lily.

Lily Evans, the kindest and most compassionate person he had ever met, did not deserve this.

"How did no one hear you?" Remus asked quietly, his eyes wide with shock.

Lily cleared her throat, "They used the Silenco charm" she said, her voice gaining a little strength despite the tremors still shaking her body, "I don't know what might have happened if Dorcas hadn't come around the corner."

"I'd been studying late in the Library" Dorcas explained, "I'm so glad I was there."

"Did you get a look at them?" Sirius demanded, he was curling and uncurling his hands into fists and his eyes were dark with fury.

"Sirius they were wearing masks" Lily said softly.

"It wasn't Reg was it?" Sirius asked, swallowing.

Regulus Black was Sirius' younger brother, he had been sorted into Slytherin when he was a first year but the brothers had always been close. That had been up until Sirius had been disowned by his family last year, and their parents had told Regulus he had to choose between his family and his elder brother. Though he had never been overly callous about it, it had been obvious which side Regulus had chosen.

Sirius had always been disappointed, but no more so than when he found Regulus hanging around with known supporters of Voldermort, which seemed to be happening more and more frequently. He had often voiced concerns for his brother, being trapped in that house with parents obsessed with their bloody purity, practically considering themselves to be royalty just because they had the surname Black. Now Sirius was worried about what would become of Regulus once he left school, if he would follow the path of so many Slytherin's before him.

If he would follow Voldermort, and the brothers would end up on opposite sides of the war that was coming.

"Don't be silly, Sirius" Lily said quietly, looking down at her hands. "Regulus is only a fourth year."

"An unforgivable curse takes really powerful magic" Remus added.

"Takes a lot of hate too" Peter added.

"I think we all know who did this" James said quietly, "We're just too afraid to say it."

"James" Remus said quietly, "Severus would never-"

"We have no idea what he would do!" James burst out, "None of us actually know what he's capable of!"

Lily stood up, her shoulder still shaking as she crossed the room to place her hands on James' arms and smile up at him, "I know you're determined to hate him, and I don't really blame you" she said softly, "But I promise you, Severus would never do this."

"You know who would though, don't you" James said softly, reaching out to touch her hair.

She glanced down at the carpet but didn't say anything.

"Mulicber and Avery" Mary said quietly.

Everyone had known that they had been the two behind Mary's attack at the end of last year. That had been when the muggleborn attacks had first started, and Mary had been the first person older than a third year who had been targeted. They had worn masks back then and no one had ever been able to prove what had happened.

If they were willing to attack Lily Evans then they must have been getting seriously bold, she was one of the most gifted witches in the entire year.

"I'll wring their scrawny necks" Sirius practically growled, making a move towards the Portrait Hole.

"No!" Lily cried, reaching out to grab his arm before he could leave, "Sirius, it's not worth it!"

"They deserve it!"

"You'll get expelled!"

He turned around to face her, his black eyes burning, "Getting expelled for you Evans, would be my genuine pleasure."

"I don't want you to go" she said, reaching out to take hold of his hand. Her other hand was still grasped around James' arm and she gave Sirius a firm look before she turned to him, "I feel safe when you're here" she told them.

Sirius' shoulders deflated and he let out a long sigh, but he reached out to pull Lily into a ferocious hug. James didn't really know what to do after that statement, so he walked over and wrapped his arms around her too.

Thinking that maybe, just holding her like this he could keep her safe.


	24. Chapter 24

_Disclaimer: Nothing here belongs to me_

 **Chapter Twenty-Four**

By the next morning it seemed as though everyone had heard about what had happened to Lily Evans.

James had no idea how information circulated through the school, but as he walked by Lily's side down to breakfast he couldn't help but notice the whispering and the finger pointing.

Remus had done his best to heal the gash on the side of her cheek the night before, as she had insisted on not going to the hospital wing. James had to hand it to his friend, he'd done a brilliant job and the faint white scar was only visible in a certain light.

In a few weeks it would be gone completely.

Lily held her head high as she walked down the corridor, but James could tell she noticed the whispers that followed her. Her fingers twitched as through she wished to touch the scar on the side of her face or reach to check she was still carrying her wand.

"I know I'm handsome, but all this staring is really just unnecessary" Sirius said loudly from Lily's other side as they passed a particularly chatty group of Hufflepuffs. The girl who had been discreetly pointing at Lily as they walked by promptly turned pink and dropped the book she was holding. James saw Lily bite her cheek out of the corner of his eye, he wasn't sure if she was biting back a laugh or the urge to shout something herself.

"Just ignore them" James said bracingly, "They'll get bored and be on to something else next week."

"I can handle the staring, James" Lily told him calmly, "Merlin knows I'm used to it."

The anger he had felt last night flared back up in his chest.

She shouldn't have to be used to it, and if he had anything to do with it she would never have to be again.

He'd been thinking more and more recently about the secret society Dumbledore had mentioned to him and Sirius just months earlier. After he had seen what had happened to Lily last night he had decided he was going to go straight to the Headmaster and sign up for the second he left school. Anything he could do to help change this injustice would be better than nothing.

They were all turning into the Entrance Hall when Lily stop suddenly and flinched as though she'd been shocked. Her green eyes were wide as she stared straight ahead and her skin had turned pale almost as though she had seen a ghost.

Which was not uncommon in the corridors at Hogwarts.

"What is it, Lil?" He asked, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

She didn't answer, but she didn't have to because Sirius spoke for her.

"Snivellus" he hissed softly.

James turned to look at the entrance to the Great Hall, on one side stood Peter and Remus with their arms crossed. He had asked them both to wait before going into breakfast that morning. He had wanted Lily to enter the hall with all four of them, so people would know she was protected and they weren't afraid.

On the other side stood Severus Snape, his black eyes locked with Lily's as though he had been stood there waiting for her.

He hadn't known what to expect of breakfast this morning, but this scenario hadn't even.

"Lily" Severus called quietly as she got closer, because she had been determinedly avoiding making eye contact with him. "Could I speak to you?"

"What about?" She asked, turning those cold green eyes on him.

Severus glanced at Sirius who was glaring at him with a look of pure loathing before turning back to Lily, "In private."

"You lost the right to speak to me in private a long time ago, Severus" Lily said, with a note of finality in her voice.

"In my opinion, you lost the right to speak to her at all" Sirius said, whipping out his wand and narrowing his eyes at Severus. "Now get out of the way before I make you."

"You can't tell me what to do, Black" Severus bit back, pulling out his own wand and taking a step closer.

"Just watch me" Sirius hissed.

"Stop it, both of you!" Lily said, stepping in between them. "Remus, would you please just take Sirius into the Great Hall?"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Sirius said angrily, wrenching his arm out of Remus' grip, who had been trying to simultaneously hold him back and steer him towards the Great Hall.

"Just calm down" James said loudly, before turning to look at Severus. "Why don't you just tell Lily whatever it is you have to say and then leave."

Snape shot him a look of deep disgust before turning back to Lily, "I just wanted you to know that I heard what happened last night." He made a jerking motion with his hand as though he wanted to touch her but thought better of it in the last second.

"Really?" She asked, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Who told you Sev?" She wanted to know, "The people who did this to me?" She pointed to the long white scar on her cheek.

"It wasn't like that-"

"Then what was it like, Sev?" She asked loudly, her green eyes burning with anger and her fists clenched. "Did you tell them I'm the only mudblood off limits, did you get angry at them for hurting me?" She spat, "Or did you wish it had been you that had done it?"

"Lily please-" Severus started again.

"Look this really isn't getting us anywhere" James cut in, "Maybe you should just go back to your table."

"No one asked your opinion, Potter!" Severus said angrily, turning his wand on him.

"Leave him out of this!" Lily shouted, stepping between Severus' wand and James. He moved his hands to her waist to try and shift her out of the way but she would not budge, and the movement seemed to anger Severus further.

His eyes flickered to James' hands before he looked back at Lily, "I see you've chosen your side" he spat.

"It was you who picked a side a long time ago, Sev" Lily said quietly.

"Perfect Potter and his mudblood girlfriend" Severus sneered.

The boys all lifted their wands at his words but he had disappeared into the Great Hall before they could so much as utter a curse.

"Slimy git" Sirius growled.

"Come on" Lily sighed, beginning to move again. "Let's just get to breakfast."

The entire hall's gaze seemed to shift to them as they moved towards the Gyffindor table.

James wasn't sure if it was because they had all heard what had happened to Lily last night, or because she had just entered the hall flanked by the four of them like she had her own personal body guards.

He allowed Lily to sit down first before sliding in beside her.

"You four aren't going to follow me around all day, are you?" She asked, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Of course we are" Remus said dismissively.

"Are you planning on following me into the bathroom too?" She asked, snorting and reaching for a slice of toast.

"You said you felt safe with us here, Lil" Sirius pointed out, "But if you don't want me around, I'll happily go and take out some frustration on those slimy Slytherins."

"That's blackmail" Lily informed him.

"Yes it is" James grinned, "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Come on, this is ridiculous" Lily insisted, "I'm not the first person to be attacked, and I probably won't be the last."

"You will be if I have anything to do with it" James told her firmly, "And I'm certainly not about to let it happen to you again."

Lily opened her mouth to reply but instead a small smile played around her lips.

He felt a warm hand slip into his under the table and he turned to see Lily eating her porridge one handed. He interlaced their fingers and she squeezed his hand comfortingly.

His chest inflated so fast he was surprised he wasn't floating.

He grinned as he caught Remus' eye but quickly looked away shifty.

"Oh shut up" Lily muttered, rolling her eyes.

James glanced up to see she was looking at Sirius. He shot his friend a puzzled look before clearing his throat and saying, "You know he didn't say anything, right Evans?"

"No, but he has that look" Lily said, narrowing her eyes.

"What look is that?" Remus asked interestedly.

"The 'I'm Sirius Black and I know everything' look" Lily said.

"Ah, yes" Remus nodded, going back to his breakfast. "We are familiar with that one."

Sirius just swept his hair out of his eyes and smirked at all of them.

"You can't hide anything from me, Ginge" he said.

James could sense this conversation wasn't heading anywhere good, so he quickly changed the subject.

"Hey Lil" he turned to her, "Do you fancy maybe going for a walk?"

Lily turned to him all big green eyes and pink lips, "I'd like that" she smiled.

Someone cleared their throat behind Sirius and they both turned to see Melody Jones stood staring at the two of them with accusing crystal blue eyes.

James literally had to bite back a groan, "Hey Melody, I'm really not-"

"I'm here for Lily" Melody cut him off.

James opened his mouth and closed it again before turning to look at Lily, who looked as shocked as he felt.

"What is it, Melody?" She asked.

"Dumbledore has asked to see you in his office."

"Now?" Lily clarified.

When Melody nodded Lily sighed and stood up. She turned to face James, "I'll meet you under the big beech tree when I'm done?"

James turned to smile at her, "I'll be waiting for you, Evans."

She winked at him before climbing over the bench and leaving the hall.

James turned back to see Melody was still staring at him.

"So" she said, looping her hair around one finger. "It's Lily Evans, then?"

James sighed when he looked at her, "It's always been Lily Evans" he said truthfully.

She nodded, "See you around, Potter" she said before heading back to the Ravenclaw table.

"I told you things weren't right in the universe when you and Lil weren't getting along" Sirius grinned the minute he turned his attention back to them.

"Yeah Pete you owe me two galleons" Remus put in.

"What for?" Peter said, outraged.

"You bet James and Lily wouldn't get together before the summer" Sirius said, turning to grin at James. "Don't worry Prongs, I never doubted you for a second."

"You bet on me?" James demanded, attempting to feign shock. He couldn't say he was honestly all that surprised.

"I had January" Sirius said, "Thanks for messing it up for me, Prongs."

"You guys do realise that me and Lily aren't actually together, right?" James pointed out.

They all looked at him and Sirius snorted, "Don't be thick, Prongs."

"You better go anyway, you wouldn't want to be late to meet Lily" Remus said slyly.

James glared at them all before standing to leave, not wanting to get his hopes up by actually listening to his immature friends.

Because the truth was he just didn't care anymore. Girlfriend or not, all he really wanted was for Lily Evans to be safe, and aside for that all the silly fights they had been having just didn't seem to matter.

After spending all night thinking of the horrible things that might have happened to her if Dorcas hadn't come along when she did, he had realised what was important.

Having Lily Evans in his life was so much better than not having her in his life, at whatever capacity.

He sat down and leant his back against the beech tree and pulled a Transfiguration book out of his bag, settling down to read while he waited for Lily.

He didn't haven't to wait long, he glanced up when he spotted her red hair shining in the sun.

"Hey you" she smiled, as she reached him. She slumped down next to him and crossed her legs. "It's a beautiful day."

"It is now" James said, not taking his eyes off her.

Her cheeks flushed pink but she smiled, "You aren't half intense, Potter."

"I'm sorry" he hastened.

"It's okay" she told him, "It can just be scary sometimes."

"Listen Lily I wanted to talk to you about that" he said.

"Oh good" she shuffled closer to him, "Because I have some things to talk to you about too."

"Right" he nodded, trying not to get distracted by her closeness and the smell of her hair. "Well, I just wanted you to know, that I'm happy that we're friends."

Lily stared at him.

"What I mean to say is, that I'm happy that we're just friends, and not anything more."

"Oh" Lily said slowly, twisting her hair through her hands. "Is that what you want?"

James hesitated for a moment, he'd clearly messed things up before by being too intense with Lily. The last thing he wanted was for the same thing to happen again.

"I just want you to be happy" James said softly.

"Being your friend won't make me happy, James" Lily said quietly.

He backed slightly at her words. He felt as though a share of ice had punctured his chest and he was struggling to breath without feeling it. He really didn't understand what more she could want from him, and he couldn't even pretend not to be hurt.

"Well I'm sorry Lily but I really don't know what more I could have done, I've tried to be a good friend to you but-"

"James" she cut him off, "I'm not saying I don't want to be your friend."

James' eyebrows pulled together in confusion as he looked back into her green eyes, "What are you saying?" He asked.

Lily took a deep breath and cleared her throat awkwardly, "That I'd like to be more than friends" she said, her face shining like a bright red beacon.

He took a moment to process this as he looked into her eyes, holding his breath as though he could quite believe it was happening.

Then it was almost at once that everything seemed to fit into place.

His brain flashed back to watching Sirius tease Lily about liking someone she didn't want James to know about, to watching her bite back a smile at one of his jokes, to this morning when all the boys were joking around about betting on them, to all those stolen moments in the library, to the gold necklace he had bought her poking out of the top of her shirt.

"Are you trying to tell me you like me, Evans?" He clarified.

He hadn't thought it was possible for her face to get any redder, he was wrong. "Are you going to make me say it?"

"Well I'm just not as smart as you Evans, my brain can't comprehend things as fast" he teased.

"I could easily change my mind, you know" she said, glaring weakly at him.

"No way" he said, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her close to him. "This is it now, no turning back."

"Are you sure this is still what you want?" She mumbled into his chest.

He leaned back to look into her eyes, "Lily, this is all I have ever wanted" he assured her. "But what changed your mind?"

"After last night" she said, her voice slightly shaky. He gripped her a little tighter as she continued, "I realised people will hate me no matter what I do, so I might as well be happy."

"And being with me makes you happy" he couldn't help grinning to himself as he said it.

"You're an ass, Potter" she informed him.

"An ass that you fancy" he teased, laughing. "Go on admit it Evans, I'm irresistible to you."

"You're a prat" she scowled at him.

"A prat that you want to-"

She silenced him with a kiss, throwing her arms around his neck. He responded so enthusiastically that they both toppled over and ended up rolling around in the grass.

"Careful, Evans" he laughed as they both came up for air. "Someone might see."

"I do hope so" she smiled, her green eyes twinkling. "Maybe then Melody Jones would stay away from you."

"I think she got the message" James assured her, grinning and pulling her closer against him. "I do love it when you get jealous though."

"Stop making fun of me for one second, would you?" She laughed.

"But it's so much fun" he said, kissing her under the ear.

She shoved him off her, "I'm trying to ask you something."

"Alright, I can be serious for a second" he said, straightening his features.

Lily looked at him with a straight face with her beautiful green eyes, "Will you go out with me, Potter?"

James paused before he answered, his breath caught in his throat for a moment as he finally heard the words he had been waiting for since he was fourteen.

He pretended to think for a second to cover himself, "Well I don't know" he said after a few moments, "I feel like you need to work for it a bit more, maybe woo me."

"You're such a prat, Potter" she shoved him but she was biting back a laugh.

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist, "So does this mean I get to hold your hand in the corridors?" He asked, "Do I get to call you my girlfriend? To take you on dates to Madame Puddifoots and gross people out by kissing you on the nose?"

"You are way too cute, Potter" she smiled at him, "Why did I do to deserve you?"

"You put up with Sirius" he shrugged easily. "And having to deal with his reaction when I tell him about this is punishment enough."

Lily didn't seem concerned, she just flicked a stray hair out of her face and said, "Sirius has known about my feelings for you since before Christmas."

James' mouth fell open in shock and he closed it, trying to form words.

Lily laughed, "You can't be that surprised" she teased, "We've been getting on really well for most of the year."

"Before Christmas?" He demanded.

Lily sighed, "More or less, I wasn't really sure-"

"My slimy, so called best friend has known you liked me since before Christmas!?" James was outraged.

Lily burst out laughing, "Remus has known even longer" she rubbed it in.

James gaped at her again.

"You're ridiculous, you know that" she told him, smiling affectionately and tilting her head to one side as she looked at him.

"No, you're the ridiculous one, Evans" he told her, shifting her over so she was practically sitting in his lap. "You do realise we could have been doing this for months."

Then he reached to cup her face and pull her into a kiss he hoped would last for at least the rest of the afternoon.


	25. Chapter 25

_Disclaimer: Nothing here is owned by me, I wish my imagination was that good._

 _Really short final chapter, I know, I'm sorry (i told you all I hate endings). But I want to thank you all, everyone who has taken the time to review my story, you've made me so happy and I can honestly say this story wouldn't have an ending if it weren't for all of you. Thank you for all the comments and critiques, hopefully they will help me become a better writer, maybe I'll even manage a sequel!_

 _I hope you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it, I'm just sorry it had to end!_

 **Epilogue**

Lily Evans turned her face towards the sun as she stepped out into the warm April breeze, closing her eyes to soak in the warmth. Today was the first day the sun had fully appeared from behind a constant layer of clouds, and she was planning to make the most of it.

She hummed as she walked over the grass, twisting her hair over one shoulder and thinking about the past year, and how much crazier it had been than she had ever imagined.

If someone had told her this time last year that right now she'd be James Potter's girlfriend, she would have kicked them in the shins.

Not even mentioning that she was actually James Potter's orphan girlfriend with plans to join a secret society and fight a dark lord as soon as she left school.

After that awful night when she had been attacked by two Slytherin boys, Dumbledore had called her into his office.

Mostly to tell her that he was sorry but he just didn't know who had done it. He had his suspicions of course, and Lily had the feeling that not much went on in this school that Dumbledore didn't know about.

But without proof, there was nothing he could do.

Instead he told her about a secret society he had formed called The Order of the Pheonix, made up entirely of members that had already left school and were rallying to fight against Lord Voldemort.

The Professor hadn't even had the chance to stop talking before she'd asked to join.

For her, it made complete sense. She had suffered at the hands of Lord Voldermort's followers for long enough, if she could do even the tiniest thing to ensure no one else had to suffer through the same pain, she would.

Then of course, all four Marauders had signed up, and these days she just couldn't seem to go anywhere without them.

Thinking of those four boys always brought a smile to her face.

She really had no idea what she would have done without them this past year. They seemed to still be saving her in fact, as Sirius had offered her a place to stay in the summer.

He had used the money he had inherited from his uncle Alphard to buy himself a flat, which just so happened to have a spare room. Sirius had insisted it was just because he needed someone to cook for him, but she didn't believe him for one second, and she wasn't sure she had ever been so grateful to anyone.

James hadn't been happy about it.

The big fanfare he had predicted when they announced their relationship hadn't happened. But a lot of money had seemed to change hands. And despite the uptake in glares she was receiving from other girls, Lily hadn't really noticed that much of a change either.

So when he had pointed out that he was her boyfriend and it should really be him she was living with and not some other boy, she had rolled her eyes and pointed out that Sirius wasn't exactly just some other boy.

James hadn't shut up about it until last week, when she'd asked him to be her date to her sister's wedding.

She'd been thinking about it practically since she received the invitation, and he'd been the most amazing support since her parents had been killed it just seemed logical to invite him.

He'd been so happy he hadn't stopped grinning all day, but he had finally shut up about her living with Sirius.

Especially as he pointed out that he would probably be there all the time anyway, as he was Sirius' best friend.

Lily grinned when she finally spotted the four of them, sat in their favourite spot by the lake under the big beech tree.

She shook her head slightly as she paused to watch them.

James was sat with his back leant against the trunk, casually flicking his hair as he read from a book propped open against his legs. Remus was lay on his stomach, occasionally scribbling on a scrap of parchment and glancing up at the rippling water of the lake. Sirius and Peter were involved in what appeared to be a very intense game of chess, judging by the lack of black pieces Lily had to guess that Sirius was winning.

She settled herself down beside James and crossed her legs, "Are you catching up on Transfiguration?" She asked, taking note of the book he was reading.

"You are coming into an exam free zone, Evans" Sirius warned her, pointing his finger in her direction but not taking his eyes off the chessboard. "Do not ruin the mood."

Lily rolled her eyes and leant her head against James' shoulder, who moved to wrap his arm around her and pull her against his chest.

Sometimes the change in their relationship still baffled her. Often because it just seemed so natural, as easy as breathing, she wondered why she had denied it for so long. Sometimes she thought James knew what she was feeling before even she did.

"We're not all geniuses like you, Black" she pointed out.

"I am very blessed" he agreed, smiling smugly as he prodded his knight to make a move.

"Do me a favour, Wormtail" James said mildly as he played with Lily's hair, "Kick his self centred butt."

Peter's brows furrowed together and he stuck his tongue out in concentration.

"I could help" Lily suggested, making a move to escape James' arms.

"You stay where you are, Evans" Sirius narrowed his eyes in her direction.

"Afraid you'd lose?"

"Afraid you'll cry when I beat you, more like" Sirius grinned.

Lily made to lunge at him but James grabbed her around the middle, "Hey get back here you" he chastised, "I was comfy."

Lily rolled her eyes but allowed herself to be pulled back against his solid chest.

"No being gross either" Sirius said, turning his attention back to the chess board. "You two are driving me mad, it better not be like this all summer."

"I don't think you need to worry" Lily assured him, "I'll be too busy to get up to much."

"Busy doing what?" James asked, his brow furrowing.

"Working I suppose" Lily said, "I'll have to do something to pay Sirius back."

"I've told you already, you don't" Sirius assured her.

"I've really been wondering about coming back to school at all next year" she admitted to them.

Sirius almost upended the chess board and he turned to look at her, the constant scratching of quill on parchment paused briefly as Remus said, "Why wouldn't you come back to school?"

"I just need to start thinking about where to go after school, and maybe getting a job."

"There's plenty of time for that" Sirius waved his hand airily.

"I don't exactly have a home to go to once this is all over."

Sirius looked at her as though she was stupid, "Of course you do."

"Haven't you worked it out yet, Lil" James said softly, wrapping both his arms around her to pull her tight against him. "This is your home" he breathed softly down her ear.

She hesitated for a second before resting her head against him again and allowing a smile to circle her lips, of course he was right, her and now she had never felt more at home in her life. Just in that moment Lily was sure that she could face anything that was about to come, as long as she had these four crazy boys.

They were her home.


End file.
